Wednesday morning, the S&P 500 Index e-mini futures (ES-Z2) traded higher by 5.50 points to $1412.25 per contract. Traders and investors seemed to be dipping into the market on the long side ahead of the FOMC meeting today. This meeting is where Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will announce his interest rate policy for the U.S. economy. The bottom line, Chairman Bernanke is not expected to change anything at this time since he just announced his long-term plans last month. He will likely jawbone the markets a bit as he is not likely to say anything derogatory. So far the major stock indexes have sold off after the Federal Reserve's announcement of QE-3 eternity in September.
Last night, Chinese flash PMI was reported at 49.1 for the month of October. This number was better than expected, but below the 50.0 level which indicates contraction. Traders should keep an eye on the Chinese ADR's today as they could be volatile. Leading Chinese ADR's such as Baidu.com Inc (ADR) (BIDU), SINA Corp (SINA), Sohu.com Inc (SOHU), and NetEase Inc (ADR) (NTES) could all be in play today.
Below you may find the video.