By Christiana Sciaudone
Investing.com -- Markets closed lower today after 3M (NYSE:MMM) and McDonald’s provided mixed second quarter earnings.
The pace of infection in hotspots including California, Florida, Arizona, and Texas appears to have abated in recent days, but infectious disease specialist Dr. Anthony Fauci warned the Midwest could be next to see a surge in cases.
Tech stocks faltered and Bernstein downgraded Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) to underperform from market perform, citing worries over valuation.
There’s so much going on tomorrow, that we’re giving you four things that may move markets, rather than the usual three:
The Fed
The Federal Reserve’s two-day monetary policy meeting started Tuesday, and will culminate with a policy update at 2 p.m. EST (1800 GMT) on Wednesday. A press conference with Chairman Jerome Powell will follow.
The Fed is expected to leave interest rates alone to support an economy weakened by the spread of the coronavirus.
Earlier Tuesday, the Fed said its lending programs would be extended through the end of the year. Those include the Main Street lending facility that lends to small- and medium-sized businesses. It had been set to expire at the end of September.
The extension will “provide certainty that the facilities will continue to be available to help the economy recover," the Fed said, calling the programs "a critical backstop."
Quarterly earnings flurry
Companies across the board are reporting earnings Wednesday. Analyst estimates were compiled by Investing.com. Here is a sampling:
PayPal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PYPL) is expected to report earnings per share of 87 cents and revenue of $4.99 billion. Shares are up about 65% in 2020.
Shopify (NYSE:SHOP) is forecast to report a loss per share of 1 cent on revenue of $506 million. The stock flirted with an all-time high earlier this month.
Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) should report earnings per share of 70 cents on sales of $4.8 billion. Shares are trading close to a record high.
GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE:GSK) is set to publish earnings per share of 49 cents on $9.64 billion. GSK recently said it will develop and evaluate a Covid-19 vaccine with Medicago.
Boeing (NYSE:BA) publishes earnings at a time when no one’s flying and no one needs new planes. The company is expected to report a loss per share of $2.51 on revenue of $13.24 billion.
Boston Scientific (NYSE:BSX) is forecast to report a loss per share of 3 cents on revenue of $1.72 billion. With elective surgeries on hold around the world, the medical devices company’s outlook isn’t so rosy.
General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) is expected to report a loss per share of 1 cent on sales of $17 billion. The stock is down by about half since the beginning of 2020.
Eco indicators
Pending home sales for June are expected to rise 19% from the previous month, which itself showed a record jump of 44%. The National Association of Realtors Pending Home Sales Report measures the change in the number of homes under contract to be sold but still awaiting the closing transaction, excluding new construction. Homebuilders have reported strong demand for the month.
Crude oil inventories come in tomorrow. Analysts expect an addition of 357,000 barrels for the week ending July 24, compared with an increase of 4.9 million barrels the previous week.
Silicon Valley goes to Congress
Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) CEO Mark Zuckerberg will testify at a hearing of the House antitrust subcommittee along with the heads of Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL).
Zuckerberg is expected to portray his company as an “American success story in a competitive and unpredictable market, now threatened by the rise of Chinese social media apps” (TikTok, anyone?), Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.