· U.S. stock index futures traded lower on Wednesday morning after President Donald Trump delivered his second State of the Union address.
At 3 a.m. ET, Dow futures were down 48 points, pointing to a negative open of more than 80 points. Futures for both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were also trading lower.
Markets focused on Trump’s address Tuesday as he vowed to build a wall that’s the source of a deep partisan divide. Democrats did not yield to Trump’s demand to fund the barrier, leading to a 35-day partial government shutdown during December and January.
On the data front, Wednesday will see U.S. trade deficit figures, productivity data and unit labor costs at 8:30 a.m. ET.
Investors will also focus on a slew of corporate earnings. General Motors, GlaxoSmithKline, Softbank, Toyota, Spotify and NY Times are set to report before the bell.
· European stocks opened slightly lower Wednesday morning, as market participants monitored another batch of earnings results.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 was down around 0.2 percent shortly after the opening bell, with most sectors and major bourses in negative territory.
Market focus was largely attuned to President Donald Trump's state of the union address on Tuesday, after he vowed to build a wall that is a source of a deep partisan divide.
Back in Europe, investors are likely to monitor a fresh batch of earnings results on Wednesday. Denmark's Carlsberg, Germany's Daimler and Italy's Unicredit are among some of the major companies set to publish their latest quarterly figures.
· Asian shares were subdued on Wednesday after U.S. President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address failed to give markets fresh trading catalysts, while the Australian dollar nosedived after the central bank opened the door to a possible rate cut.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was barely changed with China and several other markets in the region still closed for the Lunar New Year holiday. The range in which the index traded was limited to just 0.80 points, the narrowest since Dec.25 last year.
Some investors were hoping Trump would offer evidence of real, concrete progress in the U.S.-China trade negotiations, said Nick Twidale, chief operating officer at Rakuten Securities in Sydney.
“The market had much more hopes that he would come up with something more concrete. We didn’t really get it,” Twidale said.
· Japan’s Nikkei edged up on Wednesday with markets barely reacting to U.S. President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address, while attention remained on corporate earnings.
Toyota Motor Corp slipped into negative territory after the automaker cut its annual net profit outlook during afternoon trade. The stock ended 0.7 percent lower.
The Nikkei share average rose 0.1 percent to 20,874.06.
The market had focused on whether there would be specific comments on U.S.-China trade deals. From China to Venezuela to Afghanistan, Trump devoted a large section of his speech to foreign policy, saying a trade deal was possible with China if Beijing agrees to “real structural change.”
“Since his reference to the trade dispute lacked details, investors found it difficult to take positions,” said Yoshinori Shigemi, a global market strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management. “They traded passively as they wanted to see how U.S. shares will react to the speech later in the day.
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