By Peter Nurse
Investing.com - U.S. stocks are seen opening slightly lower Wednesday, with investors taking a more cautious stance as they digest higher Treasury yields, likely more fiscal stimulus and continued political turmoil.
At 7:05 AM ET (1205 GMT), the Dow Futures contract was down 25 points, or 0.1%, S&P 500 Futures traded 5 points, or 0.1%, lower, and Nasdaq 100 Futures dropped 15 points, or 0.1%.
Wall Street has had a strong start to 2021, with the main indices all posting record highs, despite ongoing concerns about the coronavirus pandemic.
This has been largely down to heightened expectations for additional fiscal stimulus after the Democrats won the Senate. President-elect Joe Biden is expected to release details on his economic plan on Thursday, but he has already indicated that the new stimulus could be “in the trillions of dollars.”
However, new gains are becoming harder to come by as long-term interest rates start to rise--10-year U.S. Treasury yields have climbed above 1%--amid concerns about the Federal Reserve tapering its stimulus program more quickly than previously expected.
Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) warned that a pullback for stocks could be coming soon, with the influential bank’s Chief Economist Jan Hatzius saying in a research note that U.S. stocks could possibly “take more of a breather” in the near term.
Meanwhile, the political turmoil continues in Washington. The U.S. House of Representatives is set to vote to impeach President Donald Trump later Wednesday over the recent turmoil in the U.S. Capitol after Vice President Mike Pence resisted pressure on Tuesday to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump.
The coronavirus continues to disrupt society, as the U.S. topped 4,000 daily deaths Tuesday for the second time this month, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Texas became the second state to surpass 2 million Covid-19 cases, after California passed the marker in December.
Turning to economic data, the consumer price inflation release for December is due at 8:30 AM ET (1230 GMT), with consensus calling for a 0.4% bump from the previous month's 0.2%. The Fed's December Beige Book is also due for publication.
Oil prices continued to climb Wednesday, boosted by industry data showing a 5.8 million barrel draw in U.S. inventories, again suggesting that the U.S. measures to contain the latest surge in the pandemic have had less effect on demand than those in Europe. The Energy Information Administration releases its data later Wednesday.
U.S. crude futures traded 0.4% higher at $53.41 a barrel, while the international benchmark Brent contract rose 0.2% to $56.68. Both benchmarks are trading near their highest levels since February.
Elsewhere, gold futures rose 0.5% to $1,852.60/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.3% higher at 1.2167.