Stock futures fell Wednesday, putting Wall Street on course to add to the previous session’s losses. Futures tied to the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average were lower by 0.2% and 70 points, respectively. Nasdaq-100 futures pulled back 0.2%. The Dow finished close to 200 points, or roughly 0.6%, lower on Tuesday, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.4% and nearly 0.1%, respectively. Roku shares surged more than 12% before the bell after announcing a slew of cost-cutting measures, including layoffs. Part of the downward pressure came from oil prices, which rose to their highest level since November after Saudi Arabia and Russia extended their voluntary supply cuts. On Wednesday, West Texas Intermediate futures slipped 0.7% to $86.07. Treasury yields also jumped Tuesday. Oil prices and yields climbing can raise concerns about how the Federal Reserve will move interest rates going forward, according to Bill Merz, head of capital market research at U.S. Bank Wealth Management. “Rising oil prices really feeds into the story about inflation,” he said. “And the story about inflation feeds into bond yields and a story about the Fed and what the Fed is going to do.” Investors will watch Wednesday for economic data in the morning on the U.S. trade deficit and services industry. A new beige book, which summarizes economic activity, will be released in the afternoon. GameStop, American Eagle Outfitters and ChargePoint are among stocks slated to report earnings after the bell. U.S Treasury yields were little changed on Wednesday, as investors considered the outlook for the Federal Reserve monetary policy and weighed the state of the economy. At 5:31 a.m. ET, the yield on the 10-year Treasury was trading at 4.262% after falling by less than 1 basis point. The 2-year Treasury yield was last down by over 1 basis point at 4.953%. Asia-Pacific markets were mixed on Thursday, after Saudi Arabia and Russia extended voluntary oil production cuts to the end of the year. Hong Kong-listed shares of Chinese property stocks surged, with Evergrande leading the charge, soaring by more than 70%. The Hang Seng Property Index was up 4%, but the broader Hang Seng index was close to the flatline in its final hour, following Tuesday’s losses. Mainland Chinese markets also fell, with the CSI 300 down 0.22% and ending at 3,812.03. Elsewhere in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed 0.62% up to record an eighth straight day of gains, while the Topix was also up 0.62% to reach a 33-year high and close at 2,392.53. Separately, South Korea’s Kospi was down 0.73% and ended at 2,563.34, with the Kosdaq also reversing earlier gains to fall 0.38% , finishing at 917.95. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.78% and closed at 7,257.1, after the country recorded a 2.1% year-on-year growth in its second-quarter gross domestic product, slightly higher than expectations from economists polled by Reuters. Oil prices reversed course on Wednesday after rising over 1% in the previous session, on a firmer dollar and as investors shrugged off jitters arising from supply cuts from Saudi Arabia and Russia. Brent crude futures were down by 43 cents to $89.61 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) futures traded at $86.42 a barrel, also down 27 cents. Gold languished at one-week lows on Wednesday on strength in the dollar and Treasury yields, driven by expectations for U.S. interest rates to stay elevated for longer and worries about China’s economy. Spot gold slipped to $1,925.40 per ounce, extending losses for a fifth session and hitting its lowest since Aug. 29. U.S. gold futures fell 0.1% to $1,951.10.
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