Wall Street Targets To Open Moderately Up

The Labor Department’s report on Producer Price inflation in November, FOMC, and the press conference by the Fed Chair might be in focus on Wednesday.

Early signs from the U.S. Futures Index suggest that Wall Street might open positive.
Asian shares finished mostly up, while European shares are trading higher.

As of 7.05 am ET, the Dow futures were gaining 47.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were adding 6.00 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were progressing 34.50 points.

The U.S. major averages finished Tuesday’s session higher. The Dow climbed 173.01 points or 0.5 percent to 36,577.94, the Nasdaq advanced 100.91 points or 0.7 percent to 14,533.40 and the S&P 500 rose 21.26 points or 0.5 percent to 4,643.70.

On the economic front, the Producer Prices Index-Final for November will be published at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is for an increase of 0.1 percent, while it was down 0.5 percent in the prior month.

Atlanta Fed Business Inflation Expectations for December is scheduled at 10.00 am ET. In the prior month, the inflation expectations were 2.5 percent.

The Energy Information Administration or EIA’s Petroleum Status Report for the week will be issued at 10.30 am ET. In the prior week, the crude oil inventories were down 4.6 million barrels and the Gasoline inventories were up 5.4 million barrels.

The 4-month Treasury bill auction will be held at 11.30 am ET.

The Federal Open Market Committee or FOMC’s December meeting will be at 2.00 pm ET. The consensus is for a change of 0 bp.

The Fed Chair press conference will be held at 2.30 pm ET.

Asian stocks closed mixed on Wednesday. Chinese shares fell sharply. The benchmark Shanghai Composite index fell 1.15 percent to 2,968.76.

Hong Kong Kong’s Hang Seng index dropped 0.89 percent to 16,228.75.

Japanese shares edged up slightly. The Nikkei average rose 0.25 percent to 32,926.35 while the broader Topix index settled marginally higher at 2,354.92.

Australian markets rose modestly. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.31 percent to…