The major U.S. index futures are currently pointing to initial weakness on Wall Street on Wednesday, with stocks likely to come under pressure after ending yesterday’s lackluster session modestly lower.
Early selling pressure is likely to be seen on Wall Street amid a negative reaction to the latest corporate earnings news.
Shares of Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) are plunging by 8.9 percent in pre-market trading after the electric vehicle maker reported weaker than expected second quarter earnings.
Google parent Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is also seeing notable pre-market weakness after reporting second quarter earnings that beat analyst estimates but missing expectations for YouTube advertising revenue.
On the other hand, shares of Texas Instruments (NASDAQ:TXN) may see initial strength after the chipmaker reported second quarter earnings that exceeded analyst estimates.
Stocks showed a lack of direction over the course of the trading session on Tuesday, with the major averages bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line following the strong upward move seen in the previous session.
The major averages eventually ended the day modestly lower. The Dow slipped 57.35 points or 0.1 percent to 40,358.09, the Nasdaq edged down 10.22 points or 0.1 percent to 17,997.35 and the S&P 500 dipped 8.67 points or 0.2 percent to 5,555.74.
The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders expressed some uncertainty about the outlook for the markets following recent volatility.
Stocks moved sharply higher over the course of the trading session on Monday, with technology stocks seeing a significant rebound following last week’s sell-off.
Traders may also have been reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of key earnings and economic news in the coming days.
Later in the week, focus is likely to shift to a report on personal income and spending in June, which includes readings on inflation said to be preferred by the Federal Reserve.
The data could have a significant impact on the outlook for interest rates, with the Fed currently widely expected to lower interest rates by a quarter point in September.
Most of the major sectors ended the day showing only modest moves on the day, contributing to the lackluster close by the broader markets.
Oil producer stocks showed a significant move to the downside, however, with the NYSE Arca Oil Index falling by 1.9 percent. The weakness among oil producer stocks came amid a steep drop by the price of crude oil.
Considerable weakness was also visible among transportation stocks, as reflected by the 1.5 percent loss posted by the Dow Jones Transportation Average.
Semiconductor and natural gas stocks also moved to the downside, while networking stocks showed a strong move to the upside.