Futures inch higher
U.S. stocks were poised to open higher on Tuesday as expectations grew that central banks around the world would cut interest rates soon to relieve pressure on the economy caused by the novel coronavirus outbreak.
Market players have ramped up their expectations for a rate cut at the U.S. Federal Reserve’s March 17-18 meeting. Currently, they are seeing a 100% chance that the Fed will slash rates by 50 basis point at the March meeting, and another 50-basis point cut by July, according to the CME’s FedWatch tracker.
At 4:30 a.m. ET, the blue-chip Dow futures were up 213 points, or about 0.8% to 26,681. The S&P 500 futures rose 20.12 points, or around 0.66% to 3,085.12 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a gain of 68.75 points, or roughly 0.78% to 8,860.
Oil buoyed by stimulus and OPEC production cut hopes
Crude futures also rallied early Tuesday, supported by interest rate cut hopes and growing optimism that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies would agree to output cuts this week amid the coronavirus outbreak.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the deadly virus has infected more than 90,000 people and claimed over 3,000 lives globally. OPEC and its allies, including Russia, are now expected to announce output cuts at their meeting on March 5-6 in Vienna to offset the impacts of the outbreak.
As of 4:30 a.m. ET, U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up $1.28, or around 2.74%, at $48.03 per barrel. International Brent crude oil futures were at $53.05 per barrel, up $1.15, or about 2.22%.
Retail earnings on tap
Wall Street will digest a few more corporate earnings reports today, with a focus on retailers. Target (NYSE: TGT), Kohl’s (NYSE: KSS), AutoZone (NYSE: AZO) are all scheduled to report their results ahead of the opening bell.
Nordstrom (NYSE: JWN), Ross Stores (NASDAQ: ROST), and Urban Outfitters (NASDAQ: URBN) will announce their quarterly results after the market close.
Apple agrees to pay up to $500 million to settle lawsuit over throttled iPhones
Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) has agreed to pay up to $500 million to settle a class-action lawsuit that was filed back in 2017, claiming that the company used software updates to limit the performance of older iPhones in order to compel users buy new phones or batteries.
Apple denied wrongdoing in the case and said it only agreed to settle the lawsuit to avoid the costs and burden of litigation. The preliminary proposed class action lawsuit, which was disclosed Friday night, would see the Cupertino-based tech giant pay consumers $25 per iPhone, according to Reuters.
U.S. owners of the iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6s, 6s Plus, 7 Plus or SE models are all covered by the settlement. However, the settlement still requires the approval of U.S. District Judge Edward Davila who oversaw the case in San Jose, California.
