Stocks poised for slight gains
U.S. stock markets look set to open slightly higher on Wednesday after the technology-heavy Nasdaq finished the previous session sharply lower following Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s comments that “interest rates will have to rise somewhat to make sure that our economy doesn’t overheat.”
Speaking during an economic forum presented by The Atlantic, Yellen said that “even though the additional spending is relatively small relative to the size of the economy, it could cause some very modest increases in interest rates.”
Yellen later clarified her comments during an online event hosted by the Wall Street Journal, saying that higher interest rates were not something she is recommending or predicting and she did not think there was going to be an inflationary problem.
As of 5:50 a.m. ET, the blue-chip Dow futures ticked up 95.5 points, or 0.28% to 34,115.5. S&P 500 futures advanced were up 15.13 points, or 0.36% to 4,173.38 while Nasdaq 100 futures advanced 78.63 points, or 0.58% to 13,604.38.
Dogecoin soars ahead of Elon Musk’s SNL appearance
Dogecoin price rocketed 35.5% to 66 cents in the last 24 hours, as Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) CEO and dogecoin enthusiast Elon Musk prepares to make his appearance on Saturday Night Live on May 8.
Over the weekend, Musk hinted that Dogecoin as a topic will definitely feature in his SNL appearance.
The meme cryptocurrency continues to capture the attention of many traders on Wall Street because it is cheap relative to other cryptos. On Tuesday, popular trading app Robinhood said it had suffered an outage as the Dogecoin and other altcoins soared to new highs.
Uber earnings to get spotlight after the market close
Uber (NYSE: UBER) is scheduled to release what will be one of the season’s most anticipated reports with its fiscal first-quarter results after the closing bell today. Analysts expect the ride-hailing giant to post a loss of 54 cents per share and revenue of $3.28 billion.
Other notable reports to keep an eye on today include General Motors (NYSE: GM), PepsiCo (NASDAQ: PEP), Stellantis (NYSE: STLA), Fox (NASDAQ: FOXA), PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL) Exelon (NASDAQ: EXC), Etsy (NASDAQ: ETSY), and Twilio (NYSE: TWLO).
Crude futures surge buoyed by API data
Crude futures were also trading in the green early Wednesday after data released by the American Petroleum Institute yesterday showed that U.S. crude stockpiled dropped by 7.7 million barrels in the week ended April 30, according to a Reuters report.
Two market sources told Reuters that API data also showed distillate supplies fell by nearly 3.5 million barrels, while gasoline supplies declined by 5.3 million barrels.
As of 6:20 a.m. ET, U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $66.56, up 87 cents, or 1.32% a barrel. International Brent crude futures gained 93 cents, or 1.35% to $69.81 a barrel.
