New York, Nov. 16 (BNA): US futures turned between small gains and losses early Wednesday morning after Target issued a weak earnings report, while investors awaited the latest US government retail sales data.
Dow and S&P 500 futures were basically unchanged an hour before the opening bell, according to the Associated Press.
Shares of Target Corp fell 14% in pre-market trading, dragging other major retailers down as well.
Target reported an unexpected and potentially ominous dip in customer spending ahead of the holiday shopping season, plunging third-quarter profit 52% after it was forced to cut prices for Americans squeezed by decades-old high inflation.
The Commerce Department will report retail sales data for October before the market opens, with economists polled by FactSet expecting sales to increase on a monthly basis by 0.9% from September to October.
In Europe at midday, France’s CAC 40 was down 0.5%, while Germany’s DAX was down 1% and Britain’s FTSE 100 was down 0.1%.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.1%, closing at 28,028.30. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.3% to 7,122.20. The Kospi index in South Korea fell 0.1 percent to 2,477.45 points. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.5% to 18,256.48, while the Shanghai Composite fell 0.5%, to 3,119.98.
Treasury yields fell on hopes that slowing inflation might mean the Fed’s bitter medicine, which is decimating the economy, may also wane.
Crude oil prices retreated after jumping the previous day. The worsening war in Ukraine could cause the prices of oil, gas and other commodities produced in the region to rise.
In energy trading, US benchmark crude fell 22 cents to $86.70 a barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, was unchanged at $93.67 a barrel.
In currency trading, the US dollar rose to 139.47 yen from 139.27 yen. The price of the euro reached $1.0418, up from $1.0349.
insignificant