Global Stocks Waver Ahead of Fed Decision

By Lauren Almeida 

-- S&P 500, Dow futures climb

-- Crude prices tick higher

-- Asian stocks drop, European shares waver

U.S. stock futures rose ahead of a Federal Reserve policy decision Wednesday when the central bank is expected to cut interest rates.

Futures tied to the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 0.2% and 0.3% respectively.

Shares in Apple Inc. were up 4.4% in off-hours trading, on the back of strong second-quarter revenue growth reported Tuesday after the closing bell.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. fell 5.5% out-of-hours after it projected weaker-than-expected revenue growth for its current quarter on Tuesday.

Elsewhere, the Stoxx Europe 600 was broadly flat, with gains in construction largely offset by losses in the real-estate sector. Figures released by the European Union's statistics agency showed a slowdown in gross domestic product during the second quarter.

Shares of Next, the British clothing company, notched the biggest rise in the region at 9.2% after it lifted its forecast for profit and sales.

Glanbia PLC, an Irish food-nutrition firm, fell 15% after it issued a profit warning for 2019 and posted lower first-half earnings.

Earlier, Asian stocks were rattled after tweets from President Trump Tuesday dampened expectations for a breakthrough in U.S.-China trade talks.

"There are issues that make a comprehensive and durable deal quite difficult to achieve," said Arnab Das, global market strategist at Invesco, adding that he doesn't expect a complete breakdown or a Brexit-type risk of a no-deal.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down by 1.3% and the Shanghai Composite Index fell by 0.7%.

Shares of Chinese property developers fell after the country's leadership vowed not to use the real-estate market as a tool to arrest an economic slowdown. At a meeting Tuesday, the Communist Party's top decision-making body reiterated that housing is "used for living, not for speculation," adding it "will not use real estate as a short-term means of stimulating the economy."

In the U.S., the yield on the 10-year Treasurys edged down to 2.056% from 2.063% Tuesday. Yields fall when bond prices rise. The WSJ Dollar Index, which measures the currency against a basket of peers, was flat.

On the earnings front, General Electric and Qualcomm are among the large companies due to report Wednesday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude was up 0.7% at $65.11 a barrel, amid continued tensions in the Middle East and expectations of lower interest rates in the U.S. Gold edged up 0.1%.

Shen Hong contributed to this article.

Write to Lauren Almeida at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 31, 2019 06:20 ET (10:20 GMT)

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