U.S. stock futures hovered near the flatline Wednesday as investors braced for a fresh influx of quarterly profits, but debate over the timing of a rate cut remained murmuring in the background.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures (^DJI) fell about 0.2%. Stocks in the S&P 500 (^GSPC) and tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (^NDX) were little changed after the major indexes managed to emerge victorious on Tuesday.
Trading was quiet as the market assessed the performance of this fiscal year. Approximately two-thirds of S&P 500 company reports are currently published. On average, earnings beat Wall Street expectations, but some weaknesses have emerged.
In Wednesday's premarket, Alibaba (BABA) shares retreated from an initial surge after the Chinese online retailer missed out on revenue, but announced it would increase share buybacks by $25 billion. Also appearing in the earnings report is Disney (DIS), which announced Tuesday that its ESPN division is partnering with Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) and Fox (FOXA) to launch a new sports streaming service.
Four Federal Reserve officials are also scheduled to attend, including Boston Fed's Susan Collins and Richmond Fed's Tom Barkin. Investors are watching for hints of a policy shift that could revive fading hopes for an early interest rate cut.
read more: Impact of Fed interest rate decisions on bank accounts, CDs, loans, and credit cards
Meanwhile, growing troubles at New York Community Bancorp (NYCB) are raising concerns about the health of local banks and the real estate sector. Moody's downgraded the financial institution's credit rating to “junk,” and multiple brokerages lowered their price targets amid warnings of governance risks following the departure of two key executives. NYCB stock was down about 2% premarket and more than 22% on Tuesday.
