By Mark DeCambre, MarketWatch

Bank of America delivers quarterly profit of $7.35 billion

U.S. stocks were poised to open near break-even levels on Wednesday, a day after markets retreated from record territory following comments from President Donald Trump on the lack of progress between Beijing and Washington in a long-running tariff dispute.

How are the major benchmarks performing?

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 13 points, or less than 0.1%, at 27,341, those for the S&P 500 index picked up 1.50 points, or less than 0.1%, at 3,008.50, while Nasdaq-100 futures added 10.75 points to reach 7,953.75, a gain of 0.1%.

On Tuesday, the Dow closed 23.50 points lower to 27,335.6, a loss of 0.1%, after briefly touching an intraday high at 27,398.68. The S&P 500 dropped 0.3% to 3,004.0, shedding 10.3 points and the Nasdaq Composite Index edged 0.4% lower, or a 35.4 point drop, to 8,222.80.

What's driving the market?

Bank of America, the second-largest in the U.S. by assets, produced better-than-expected earnings of 74 cents a share, or $7.35 billion, compared with expectations for 71 cents a share based on analysts polled by FactSet. Revenue of about $23.2 billion were roughly in line. After the bell, results from Netflix Inc. (NFLX) and eBay Inc. (EBAY) are due.

On Tuesday, markets skidded slightly lower after President Donald Trump said an agreement with China on trade tariffs had "a long way to go," and said he could impose the full slate of tariffs on Chinese imports, in a briefing with reporters. He also said his administration would explore national-security concerns related to unsubstantiated allegations about Google-parent Alphabet Inc.'s (GOOGL)(GOOGL) relationship with Beijing.

"Investors are now concerned a trade deal between the US and China is not going to happen anytime soon after President Trump said he could go ahead with further tariffs hike against Beijing," wrote Pierre Veyret, technical analyst at ActivTrades.

Wall Street participants are also digesting comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, who implied that the market has already priced in expectations for easing by the central bank. Fed funds futures markets are placing 68% probability of a 25-basis-point cut to rates, which currently stand between 2.25%-2.50%, and a 32% chance of a half-point cut to rates, according to CME Group data (https://www.cmegroup.com/trading/interest-rates/countdown-to-fomc.html). Powell said the Fed was "carefully monitoring" risks to U.S. economy wrought by tariff disputes.

Looking ahead, the U.S. Commerce Department is set to release June housing starts data, due at 8:30 a.m. Easter Time. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal expect housing starts climbed 0.1% in June.

Also in focus will be the Fed's anecdotal account of business conditions in its regions, with the Beige Book set to be released at 2 p.m.

How are other markets trading?

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note was at 2.09%, after touching a four-week high of to 2.12% on Wednesday (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/treasury-yields-edge-higher-ahead-of-retail-sales-2019-07-16).

In Asia, the China CSI 300 ended with a slight loss of less than 0.1%, Japan's Nikkei 225 declined 0.3% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gave up 0.1%. Meanwhile, European shares were trading flat, with the Stoxx Europe 600 less than 0.1% higher.

In commodities markets, crude-oil gained 0.7%, while gold prices fell 0.5%, adding to Wednesday's losses.

The U.S. dollar was off 0.1% at 97.33, as measured by the ICE U.S. Dollar Index.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 17, 2019 07:18 ET (11:18 GMT)