By Peter Nurse
Investing.com -- U.S. stocks are seen opening marginally lower Wednesday, with investors adopting an air of caution ahead of more economic data and Fed chief Jerome Powell’s Jackson Hole speech.
At 07:00 ET (11:00 GMT), the Dow Futures contract was down 40 points or 0.1%, S&P 500 Futures traded 5 points or 0.1% lower, and Nasdaq 100 Futures dropped 20 points or 0.2%.
The main Wall Street indices posted small losses Tuesday, the day after having their worst day in two months, with muted economic data stoking fears of a slowdown.
Fed officials meet later this week in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, for their annual conference, and investors are cautiously awaiting Chair Jerome Powell’s speech, scheduled for Friday, for any clues about the size of September's rate move.
A series of policymakers have lined up over the past week to emphasize the need to combat inflation at 40-year highs, and investors are now nervous the central bank will take things a step too far with its aggressive tightening, sending the U.S. economy into recession.
There have already been signs of the economy cooling. U.S. PMI data showed a contraction in August, new home sales were their lowest in six years, and shoppers are cutting discretionary spending.
There’s more housing data to study later Wednesday, with pending home sales expected to fall 4.0% in July, while durable goods are seen rising 0.6% in the same month, a slowdown in growth from 2.0% the previous month.
There are also more earnings to digest Wednesday, with results due chipmaker Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA), cloud computing firm Snowflake (NYSE:SNOW) and software company Salesforce (NYSE:CRM).
Additionally, Nordstrom (NYSE:JWN) stock fell 14% premarket after the department store chain cut its annual revenue and profit forecasts, a sign that decades-high inflation was squeezing consumer spending on its high-end clothing and footwear.
Oil prices gained Wednesday, bouncing back from early losses as doubts grow over the possibility of Iranian oil reentering the global market.
Iran will not allow inspections beyond what is in a 2015 nuclear deal, the country's nuclear chief said on Wednesday, potentially scuppering a deal to revive Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers.
Both crude benchmarks are up over 7% this week after Saudi Arabia suggested this week that OPEC could consider cutting output in response, citing a disconnect between the crude futures and physical markets.
Additionally, data from the American Petroleum Institute showed that U.S. crude inventories fell by 5.6 million barrels last week, far more than expectations for a drawdown of 450,000 barrels. Official numbers are due later in the session.
By 07:00 ET, U.S. crude futures traded 0.9% higher at $94.58 a barrel, while the Brent contract rose 0.9% to $101.09.
Additionally, gold futures fell 0.2% to $1,757.45/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.5% lower at 0.9919.