Tech giant Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) sent alarm bells ringing last night after it cautioned the market that sales figures would disappoint. It’s activity both at home and across the Pacific in China that is biting, and the implications of this saw US index futures plummet shortly after he market closed.
With Democrats set to assume a majority in Congress today, the political situation in the US seems unlikely to offer much relief to investors either. However a proposal to reopen a number of divisions of the government - which has been closed for almost two weeks following budget deadlock – may be sufficient to provide at least a modest degree of support for stocks, assuming it can succeed.
ADP (NASDAQ:ADP) Payroll data is due for release shortly before the opening bell, whilst the ISM Manufacturing print will be published early in the session, too.
There’s no contesting the fact that the US economy is now slowing and with the Federal Reserve still eyeing further rate hikes in the year ahead, signs of deceleration here could well end up adding fresh downside pressure to stocks. Right now, it seems as if markets are struggling to find much worth cheering as the 2019 return to work continues.
Ahead of the open we’re calling the DOW down 346 at 23000 and the S&P down 38 at 2472.