Equities pared heavy losses towards the close yesterday, but hopes of a continuation of that trend this morning look set to be dashed.
According to spread betting quotes, the S&P 500 is set to open some three points lower at 2,076 and the Dow Jones average is heading for a 28 point fall, having closed last night at 17,730.
“Having come off the back of five weeks of gains we’ve been overdue a bit of a pullback and we certainly got one yesterday, as speculation moved on from the timing of a single rise in rates, to how quickly the next one would follow,” wrote Michael Hewson of spread betting firm CMC Markets.
“Another OECD downgrade of global growth didn’t exactly help the tone either, as the organisation dropped its forecast again for this year from 3% to 2.9%, and down from 3.7% a year ago, citing a slowdown in emerging markets, though they nudged their forecast for Chinese growth slightly higher,” Hewson added.
Comments from Chicago Fed president Charles Evans also weighed on the markets, as the perennial dove said he would not put up staunch resistance should the Fed’s policy makers suggest a rise in rates in December.
A fairly light day is in prospect on the macro front, with NFIB small business optimism predicted to edge up to 96.4 from the previous month’s reading of 96.1, while October import price inflation is expected to be down 9.4% year-on-year, compared to September’s fall of 10.7%.
“The downward pressure on inflation from commodity prices will gradually ease and push up import price inflation as also indicated by the Fed lately,” notes the Danske Bank Markets team.
On the corporate side, fashion firm Gap (NYSE:GPS) disappointed with its third quarter earnings update after the bell yesterday.
Net sales for the four weeks to the end of October eased to US$1.20bn from US$1.26bn in the corresponding period of last year. Like-for-like sales were down 3% from a year earlier.
Net sales for the third quarter on a constant currency basis were flat year-on-year.
Companies set to update the market today include DR Horton; International Flavors & Fragrances; Rockwell Automation.