Investing.com - Wall Street stock futures pointed to a mixed open on Wednesday, taking a breather after losses amid concerns over U.S. President Donald Trump’s capability to follow through with promised fiscal policies.
The blue-chip Dow futures fell 30 points, or 0.15%, by 6:57AM ET (10:57GMT), the S&P 500 futures inched up less than a point, or 0.01%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures edged forward 1 point1, or 0.01%.
The S&P 500 finally closed more than 1% lower, something that analysts had been commenting hadn’t happened since October of last year, in what was also its fourth consecutive session of losses.
If the global benchmark closes down for a fifth session on Wednesday, that would be its longest streak of declines since it closed lower for 9 sessions in a row back in October/November 2016.
Investors’ nerves are on edge ahead of the vote in Congress on Thursday to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act with concerns that opposition from 26 Republican representatives may derail the new health care bill.
With Trump having promised to deal with health care before moving onto other issues such as tax reform and spending, market players have become worried that the health care bill at worst shows that campaign promises may not be as quick to complete as hoped and, at least, that the implementation of promised fiscal policies continues to be delayed.
U.S. stocks were not the only victim of investor concerns as the dollar hit a four-month low against the yen on doubts over Trump’s ability to push through his pro-economic growth agenda.
At 6:58AM ET (10:58GMT), USD/JPY was down 0.38% to 111.29, hovering close to an intraday low of 111.15, its lowest level since November 23.
In a data light day, the National Association of Realtors is to release data on U.S. existing home sales for February at 10.00 ET.
On the earnings front, shares in Nike (NYSE:NKE) tumbled more than 4% in pre-market trade as the sportswear retailer missed on revenue due to pressure from competitors.
FedEx (NYSE:FDX) would also be under watch as the global delivery company missed on profit but provided a positive outlook on margins.
Meanwhile, oil prices fell on Wednesday after a report from industry group the American Petroleum Institute late Tuesday showed that U.S. crude stocks rose by 4.5 million barrels last week, compared to forecasts for a build of just 2.0 million.
Official U.S. Energy Information Administration oil inventory data will be released at 10:30AM ET (14:30GMT).
U.S. crude futures fell 1.43% to $47.55 by 7:00AM ET (11:00GMT), while Brent oil lost 1.49% to $50.20.
Elsewhere, global stock markets followed the downward path set in motion by Wall Street on Tuesday.
European equities traded lower as market players kept an eye on yet another Italian bank bailout. At 7:02AM ET (11:02GMT), the benchmark Euro Stoxx 50 lost 0.31%, London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.81%, Germany’s DAX shed 0.52% and France’s CAC traded down 0.46%.
Earlier, in Asia, markets posted their largest drop in two weeks, with Japan's Nikkei leading losers, closing down 2.13%, as investors shrugged off data showing that exports rose by the most in two years in February.