Investing.com -- Here are the top 5 things you need to know about in financial markets on Wednesday, May 1.
- It's Fed Day
The Federal Reserve’s regular Federal Open Markets Committee meeting winds up, with a statement due at 2 PM ET (1800 GMT) and chairman Jerome Powell’s press conference half an hour later.
No change in the Fed Funds target rate is expected, resisting pressure from President Donald Trump, who called on it on Tuesday to cut rates by one percent and resume quantitative easing.
Separately, reports indicated that Senate Republicans are increasingly reluctant to support the nomination of conservative economic commentator Stephen Moore – a vociferous supporter of Trump -- to the Fed’s board, due in part to past comments on women and his personal financial issues (including $75,000 in unpaid taxes).
2. Stocks set to open at new highs
U.S. futures are set to open sharply up on Wednesday, having hit new all-time highs overnight in the wake of Apple’s earnings release after the bell on Tuesday (see below).
At 5.45 AM ET (0945 GMT) The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 contract was indicated up 58 points, or 0.8%, reversing the losses posted on Tuesday after Alphabet’s disappointing update wiped a combined $100 billion off the so-called FAANG stocks (Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN), Apple, Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) and Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL)). The Dow futures contract was indicated up 81 points, or 0.3%, while the S&P 500 futures was up 9.6 points, also up 0.3%.
The list of companies reporting quarterly earnings today includes consumer giants Kraft Heinz and Yum! Brands, healthcare groups Humana and CVS, insurer MetLife, ADP, Corning and hotels groups Marriott International and Hilton Worldwide. Chipmaker Qualcomm reports after the closing bell.
3. Apple rockets after reassuring report
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) stock is set to open some 5% higher after reporting a stabilization in revenue in the first quarter and announcing it will increase its buyback program by $5 billion.
The report went some way to reassuring investors that the drop in iPhone sales in recent quarters has levelled off, and that it is making progress in building up alternative revenue streams from services.
4. Crude slips as Venezuelan coup attempt sputters
Crude oil prices were off more than a dollar from the high they hit on Tuesday as Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido incited the country’s armed forces to bring down the government of President Nicolas Maduro.
The army has, however, mostly refused to switch sides, and there appears to have been no immediate impact on oil shipments which are in any case running at very depressed levels due to the country’s economic chaos.
At 5:45 AM ET, the U.S. benchmark WTI Futures contract was at $63.54 a barrel, slowly recovering from an overnight low of $63.09.
Prices had fallen in late trade on Tuesday after the American Petroleum Institute’s weekly report showed a rise of 6.81 million barrels in U.S. crude stocks last week. Market expectations for the official government report, which is due at 10:30 AM ET today, had been for a modest draw in inventories.
5. Uber (NYSE:UBER) IPO gains momentum
Uber’s bankers have attracted enough bids to cover the ride-hailing company’s initial public offering within two days of starting their roadshow, according to Bloomberg.
Bloomberg said the interest was mostly towards the low end of the $44-$50 a share bookbuilding range. The top of that range would value the company at $91 billion on a fully diluted basis.
There'll be no clear picture as to overall bidding interest until the bankers hit Boston and San Francisco, but the news suggests that investors haven’t been put off by the lack of detail in the company’s prospectus, or by its continued operating losses, slowing revenue growth and the lack of a clear path to profitability.
Uber’s IPO is expected to be the largest of the year, clearly outstripping recent offerings by LYFT (NASDAQ:LYFT) and Pinterest (NYSE:PINS). Office rentals company and fellow unicorn WeWork also filed confidentially for an IPO earlier this week.