Before the bell: What you need to know before the US market open
Last night the US Federal Reserve signalled the way to an interest rate rise before the US Presidential Election and investors are busy digesting the flood of earnings reports.
Here's what you need to know before the US market open at 2:30pm.
The pre-market is pointing lower ahead of the open but looks to be broadly flat. The S&P is down by 0.05 per cent, the Nasdaq is off by 0.07 per cent, and the Dow is set for an 0.08 per cent fall. The US 10-year yield is unchanged at 1.5 per cent.
European markets are sinking halfway into the session, while Asian markets closed down as investors fret over the Bank of Japan's latest policy meeting.
Read more: Lloyds Banking Group to cull a further 3,000 jobs
Yesterday the Federal Reserve heralded the strong pace of the economic recovery by queuing up an interest rate hike in coming months.
Rate-setters left policy unchanged on this occasion, as expected, and suggested a hike for just second time since the financial crisis is now a distinct possibility for September.
Stocks to watch
Facebook is expected to pop at the open – shares are up by more than five per cent in the pre-market. The social network giant has seen total earnings climb by 186 per cent for the second quarter, with more than a billion users checking into the social network every day on mobile.
Read More: Facebook Messenger now has one billion users
Up market grocery store chain Whole Foods is looking less rosy, with shares slipping ahead of the open. Same store sales sank 2.6 per cent, missing the 2.4 per cent decline that analysts were anticipating. It earned an adjusted $0.37 per share on revenue of $3.7bn.
Companies reporting today
An absolute torrent of corporate data today from both sides of the Atlantic.
Big names like Ford, Harley-Davidson, Hershey, AllianceBernstein, CME, Colgate-Palmolive, Dow Chemical and MasterCard are posting numbers ahead of the open.
And tonight its the turn of tech giants Amazon, Google and Chinese online retailer Baidu.
Later we'll also hear from CBS, Expedia, and Live Nation.
In economic news
The Fed and the Bank of Japan are still the big news in economic circles, but we also have the latest initial jobless claims and the trade balance before the market open this morning.