Investing.com - Here are the top five things you need to know in financial markets on Wednesday, January 25:
1. Trump set to build the wall
After U.S. President Donald Trump signed executive orders a day earlier to facilitate the permit process by decreasing the regulatory burden on domestic manufacturers and gave the go ahead to restart the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines , he signaled plans to move forward with national security issues on Wednesday.
“Among many other things, we will build the wall,” he promised via his Twitter account.
As part of his campaign, Trump promised to build a huge wall on the U.S. border with Mexico to keep immigrants from “taking our jobs” along with rounding up and deporting “criminal aliens”.
The President may also begin to outline plans to restrict the number of refugees allowed into the country as he blamed throughout the campaign lax restrictions in Europe for the terrorist attacks in France and Germany.
2. S&P headed for 22-year record, Dow back to facing 20,000
So far in 2017, the S&P 500 has oscillated in a humdrum fashion between the year’s low of 2,245 points and the high at 2,284 (reached on Tuesday) with the global benchmark index not having a single closing move of 1% so far this year, with the biggest move of 0.85% on January 3, the first trading day of 2017.
According to LPL Financial market strategist Ryan Detrick, if the S&P fails to trade 1% again on Wednesday, that will mark 27 consecutive days or its longest such streak in 22 years.
Meanwhile, attention began to refocus on the psychological mark of 20,000 points for the Dow. The blue-chip index closed the prior day at just under 88 points below that level, with futures pointing to about a 50 point gain for Wednesday’s session.
3. Earnings remain in spotlight
As Wednesday is light on data, with weekly MBA mortgage application data at 7:00AM ET (12:00GMT) and FHFA home prices at 9:00AM ET (14:00GMT), market will keep its focus on earnings season.
As of Tuesday, 88 S&P companies had reported fourth quarter earnings with 70% beating consensus on profit and 56% topping expectations on sales, according to earnings trend analysis firm The Earnings Scout.
The earnings deluge will continue on Wednesday with reports from Dow components Boeing (NYSE:BA) and United Technologies (NYSE:UTX) before the open.
After the close, the focus will be on releases from AT&T (NYSE:T) and eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY).
4. Oil pulls back ahead of U.S. inventory data
Oil prices edged lower on Wednesday, pulling back from the prior session's gains as market players awaited fresh weekly information on U.S. stockpiles of crude and refined products.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration will release its weekly report on oil supplies at 10:30AM ET (15:30GMT) Wednesday, amid analyst expectations for a rise of 2.8 million barrels.
Gasoline inventories are expected to rise by 498,000 barrels while stocks of distillates, which include heating oil and diesel, are forecast to fall by 970,000 barrels.
After markets closed Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute said that U.S. oil inventories rose by 2.9 million barrels in the week ended January 20.
The API report also showed a gain of 4.8 million barrels in gasoline stocks, while distillate stocks rose 2.0 million barrels.
U.S. crude oil futures fell 1.09% to $52.60 at 5:56AM ET (10:56GMT), while Brent oil traded down 1.14% to $54.81.
5. Gold moves further away from 2-month highs as equities rally
The increase in risk-appetite on the back of the S&P 500 and NASDAQ setting record highs the prior day, dampened the appeal of safe haven assets such as gold.
After prices of the yellow metal jumped to a two-month peak of $1,219.40 on Monday, profit-taking continued on Wednesday.
Gold for February delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange fell $7.25, or 0.60%, to $1,203.55 a troy ounce by 5:57AM ET (10:57GMT), after declining $4.80, or 0.4%, a day earlier.