Markets set to open flat
U.S. stock futures were muted early Wednesday as the yield on the 10-year Treasury note hit a 12-month high of 1.33%, raising concerns that a coronavirus recovery will bring faster inflation. The yield on the 30-year Treasury note consolidated above 2.0%, jumping to 2.08%.
By 5:40 a.m. ET, futures linked to the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures were down 19.5 points, or 0.14% to 13,748.25. Those for the blue-chip Dow and the S&P 500 were little changed.
January retail sales data on watch
Today, market participants will be looking forward to January retail sales data from the Census Bureau.
The data, due to be released at 8:30 a.m. ET, is expected to show a 1.3% month-over-month increase in consumer spending after a 0.7% drop in December. Retail sales, excluding autos, are projected to have risen 1.4%.
Other economic data to watch today include January Industrial production data (9:15 a.m. ET), December data for business inventories (10:00 a.m. ET), and January Producer price data.
Fed minutes eyed
The Federal Open Market Committee is also scheduled to release the minutes from its January 26-27 monetary-policy meeting at 2:00 p.m. ET. Traders will be going through the minutes for cues on the Federal Reserve’s future policy measures to support the virus-battered economy.
At the conclusion of the meeting last month, the central bank pledged to keep it bond-buying program steady at $120 billion per month until significant progress has been made towards its employment and inflation targets. Policy makers also reiterated that interest rates would remain at ultra-low levels even if inflation rises above 2.0%.
Shopify, Baidu, Tilray, Twilio, iQIYI, earnings
On the earnings front, Shopify (NYSE: SHOP), Analog Devices (NASDAQ: ADI), and Genuine Parts (NYSE: GPC) all report ahead of the opening bell.
Tilray (NASDAQ: TLRY), Baidu (NASDAQ: BIDU), Fastly (NYSE: FSLY), iQIYI (NASDAQ: IQ), and Twilio (NYSE: TWLO) will report after the close.
