Dow Futures Up 120 Pts; ISM Services PMI Data Due

By Peter Nurse

Investing.com -- U.S. stocks are seen opening higher Wednesday, rebounding after the previous session’s losses, ahead of the release of key services activity data as well as more quarterly corporate earnings.

At 07:00 AM ET (1100 GMT), the Dow Futures contract was up 120 points, or 0.4%, S&P 500 Futures traded 15 points, or 0.4% higher, and Nasdaq 100 Futures climbed 40 points, or 0.3%.

The main Wall Street indices closed lower Tuesday, with the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping over 400 points, or 1.2%, weighed by worries over deteriorating Sino-U.S. relations after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan.

Also dragging the market down Tuesday were a number of hawkish comments from Federal Reserve officials over further interest rate hikes, suggesting further increases were needed to tackle inflation even at the expense of further economic slowdown.

The release of the ISM non-manufacturing business activity reading for July, at 10:00 AM ET (1400 GMT), is expected to provide more evidence of a slowing service sector, the biggest component of the U.S. economy.

Turning to the corporate sector, quarterly earnings have continued to pour in Wednesday, while the companies that reported results after the close Tuesday will also be in focus.

CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) raised its full-year profit forecast Wednesday, boosted by strength in its insurance business and sales of COVID-19 over-the-counter test kits, while Regeneron (NASDAQ:REGN) reported a sharp fall in quarterly profit, hurt by lackluster sales of its COVID-19 antibody cocktail.

Additionally, PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) will be in focus after activist investor Elliott Management stated it has an over $2 billion stake in the fintech company, which also raised its annual profit guidance late Tuesday.

Match Group (NASDAQ:MTCH) stock plunged sharply premarket after the dating app operator provided a weak current quarter revenue forecast, and chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) disappointed with its third-quarter revenue, while Airbnb (NASDAQ:ABNB) missed estimates on bookings, even while second-quarter sales rose 58% from a year earlier.

Oil prices fell Wednesday after OPEC+ member Kazakhstan said the group might have to raise oil production to avoid market overheating.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, a group known as OPEC+, has already rolled back pandemic-era cuts to oil supply, and was expected to keep production largely unchanged as recession fears grow, particularly with most members struggling to hit their current production targets.

Also of interest later in the session will be the release of U.S. government inventory figures, after the industry body American Petroleum Institute, released on Tuesday, showed U.S. oil stocks rose by around 2.2 million barrels last, a surprise rise after falling around 4 million barrels in the previous week.

By 07:00 AM ET, U.S. crude futures traded 1% lower at $93.50 a barrel, while the Brent contract was also 1.1% lower at $99.44.

Additionally, gold futures fell 0.6% to $1,779.15/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.3% higher at 1.0189.