The major U.S. index futures are pointing to a lower opening on Tuesday, with the mixed data points released ahead of the market open doing little to quell the anxiety of traders. A Commerce Department report highlighted slackening in retail spending, while the manufacturing sector is slowly finding its footing after months of underperformance, if the results of the New York Federal's survey is something to go by. Meanwhile, wholesale price inflation data panned in line with expectations.
Commodities are being pounded but the dollar is trading on a mixed note as a 2-day FOMC meeting gets underway. Earlier in the global trading day, the Bank of Japan disappointed expectations from some quarters of additional easing, sending Asian stocks into a tailspin. That said, its Australian counterpart relayed through the minutes of the March rate-setting meeting that it is ready to offer more. U.S. stocks clawed back most of their early losses on Monday and ended on a narrowly mixed note, as the markets awaited three key central bank decisions on a cautiously optimistic note and commodity prices retreated. The major averages opened steeply lower but recouped their losses over the course of the morning. The Dow Industrials and the Nasdaq Composite began moving back and forth across the unchanged line from early afternoon trading and were volatile until the mid-session. Thereafter, both the averages held mostly above the unchanged line before ending higher. However, the S&P 500 Index languished below the unchanged until late trading and closed lower despite see-sawing in late trading. The S&P 500 Index ended down 2.55 points or 0.13 percent at 2,020, while the Dow Industrials added 15.82 points or 0.09 percent before ending at 17,229 and the Nasdaq Composite closed 1.81 points or 0.04 percent higher at 4,750. The breadth among the Dow components was even, with fifteen stocks advancing, while the remaining fifteen stocks moved to the downside. Boeing (BA), McDonald's (MCD) and Nike (NKE) were among the best performers of the session but Intel (INTC) and Pfizer (PFE) lost ground in the session. Among the sectors, computer hardware, brokerage and resource stocks came under selling pressure. Currency, Commodity Markets Crude oil futures for April delivery are slipping $1.06 to $36.12 a barrel after slipping $1.32 to $37.18 a barrel on Tuesday. Meanwhile, an ounce of gold is currently trading at $1,236.70, down $8.40 from the previous session's close of $1,245.10. On Tuesday, gold fell $14.30.
On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 112.75 yen compared to the 113.82 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Tuesday. Against the euro, the dollar is valued at $1.1117 compared to yesterday's $1.1103. Asia Most Asian markets retreated, as commodities reversed course and caution prevailed ahead of Wednesday's FOMC decision and Thursday's Bank of England rate decision. The Bank of Japan's nonchalant stance also disappointed the markets. However, the New Zealand and Chinese market bucked the downtrend with modest gains. The Japanese market retreated as the yen firmed up following the release of the Bank of Japan's policy statement. The Nikkei 225 average nervously hugged the unchanged line ahead of the announcement but fell steeply in reaction to the decision and remained lower for the rest of the session. At the close of trading, the index was down 116.68 points or 0.68 percent at 17,117. Food, construction, chemical, pharma, export, resource, real estate, insurance, marine transportation all stocks moved to the downside, but utility, retail, telecom and bank stocks ended mixed. Australia's All Ordinaries opened lower and after some indecision in early trading, it declined steadily until late afternoon trading. Thereafter, the index consolidated before ending down 73.80 points or 1.41 percent at 5,169. The market saw broad based weakness, with energy and material stocks slumping in the session. However, defensive telecom and real estate stocks saw some strength. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index ended at 20,289, down 146.57 points or 0.72 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite added 4.87 points or 0.17 percent before ending at 2,864. On the economic front, taking a differing stance from its European counterpart, the Bank of Japan stood pat despite deflation threat looming large. The central bank maintained its target of raising monetary base at an annual pace of about 80 trillion yen unchanged. Members of the Monetary Policy Board adopted this decision by an 8-1 majority. The negative interest rate of -0.1 percent was also left unchanged. The status quo position reflects the bank's hopes that the effect of negative interest rate introduced in January has not fully materialized. Industrial production in Japan increased as initially estimated in January, after falling in the previous two months, final figures from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry showed. Industrial production rose a seasonally adjusted 3.7 percent month-over-month in January, confirming the flash data, and reversing the 1.7 percent fall in December. A separate report showed that the tertiary activity index rose 1.5 percent, rising for the first time in 3 months. Economists expected a mere 0.3 percent increase. The minutes of the Reserve Bank of Australia's March meeting showed that the members opine that domestic economic growth continues to be slightly below trend. In light of persistent low inflation, the soft growth may warrant additional easing, the bank said. Data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed that motor vehicle sales edged down 0.1 percent month-over-month in February following a 0.4 percent increase in January. Annually, car sales rose 2.3 percent. Europe European stocks opened moderately lower and are continuing to see weakness amid economic and monetary policy concerns. In corporate news, U.K.'s Sainsbury reported a marginal 0.1 percent increase in its fourth quarter like-for-like sales, excluding fuel, marking the first increase in 2 years. Antofagasta reported a steep plunge in its annual profits, hurt by weakness in copper prices. The company also cancelled its final dividend. Swedish retailer H&M reported a 10 percent increase in sales for February. U.S. Economic Reports The Labor Department reported that producer prices for final demand fell 0.2 percent month-over-month in February, in line with expectations. Core prices, which exclude the impact of the volatile food and energy sectors, advanced 0.1 percent for the month. Economists had also projected an increase of 0.1 percent. The Commerce Department reported that retail sales for February edged down 0.1 percent month-over-month. This was in line with expectations. However, on a negative note, the previous month's retail sales performance was downwardly revised to a negative 0.4 percent from the 0.2 percent growth estimated initially.
Sales, excluding autos edged down 0.1 percent, not as worse as the 0.2 percent drop forecast by economists. There were downward revisions to these numbers for January as well. Auto sales fell 0.2 percent, the same pace of decline as in the previous month. Furniture and home furnishing store sales declined 0.5 percent and electronics & appliance store sales edged down 0.1 percent. Food & beverage store sales were down 0.2 percent, reversing the 0.5 percent gain in January. Gasoline station sales fell a steeper 4.4 percent. However, building material & garden equipment supply stores, food services and health & personal care store sales rebounded. The results of the New York Federal Reserve's regional manufacturing survey for March showed that manufacturing activity in the region unexpectedly expanded in March, stalling seven straight months of contraction. The general business conditions index rose 17 points to 0.6, while economists expected the index to improve to -11.25.
The new orders index improved to 9.57, up from -16.64 in February. The shipments index rose to 13.88 from -11.56 and the unfilled orders improved to -3.96 from -6.93. However, the employment indexes were mixed. The future general business conditions index climbed to 25.52 from 14.48 in February. The Commerce Department will also release its business inventories report for January at 10 am ET. The consensus estimate calls for an unchanged reading for business inventories compared to the previous month. In December, business inventories rose 0.1 percent month-over-month, in line with estimates. However, business sales declined 0.6 percent. Therefore, the business inventories to sales ratio rose to 1.39 from 1.38 in November. Also at 10 am ET, the National Association of Home Builders is set to release its housing market index for March. The index, which is a measure of confidence among homebuilders, is expected to rise to 59 in March from 58 in February. The housing market index unexpectedly fell to 58 in February from an upwardly revised reading of 61 in January, hitting the lowest level since May 2015. Economists expected the index to have risen to 61 from the originally reported reading of 60 in the previous month.
The sales conditions index fell 3 points, although remaining robust at 65, and the index measuring prospective buyer traffic declined 5 points to 39, while the future sales expectations index rose 1 point to 65. Stocks in Focus
Beleaguered Valeant Pharma (VRX) announced preliminary fourth quarter adjusted earnings that trailed estimates. The company also lowered its full year 2016 and first quarter guidance.
Children's Place (PLCE) issued above-consensus adjusted earnings per share for the first quarter and 2016 and also announced a 33-1/3 percent hike to its dividend. The company's fourth quarter results bettered expectations. Jamba (JMBA) reported a fourth quarter loss on a non-GAAP basis, with the loss wider than analysts' expectations. Revenues slumped 55.5 percent year-over-year.
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May 08, 2026 15:50 ET Manufacturing and services sector survey results and labor market data from main economies were the highlight on the economics news front this week. Factory orders and jobs report dominated the news flow in the U.S. Similarly, industrial production data from German garnered attention in Europe. In Asia, purchasing managers’ survey results from China and the central bank decision from Australia were in focus.