U.S. stock futures higher in pre-market trading for wednesday, May 30. The Nasdaq Futures is trading at 6,967.50 up with +0.33% percent or +19.00 point.The Dow Futures is trading at 24,516.00 up with +0.57% percent or +139.00 point.The S&P 500 Futures is trading at 2,705.50 up with +0.49% percent or +13.25 point.
In overnight trading in the Eastern Hemisphere,Japan’s Nikkei 225 is trading at 22,018.52 with a loss of -1.52% percent or -339.91 point. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is trading at 30,012.90 with a loss of -1.55% percent or -471.68 point. China’s Shanghai Composite is trading at 3,041.64 with a loss of -2.53% percent or -78.82 point. India’s BSE Sensex is trading at 34,852.64 with a loss of -0.27% percent or -96.04 point at 12:15 PM.The FTSE 100 is trading at 7,656.04 up with +0.31% percent or +23.93 point. Germany’s DAX is trading at 12,729.44 up with +0.50% percent or +62.93 point. France’s CAC 40 is trading at 5,423.21 with a loss of -0.27% percent or -14.84 point. The Stoxx Europe 600 is trading at 384.97 up with +0.13% percent or +0.59 point.
Wednesday’s Factors and Events
Tuesday’s Activity
For the day The Nasdaq Composite is trading at 7,396.59 with a loss of -0.50% percent or -37.26 point.the Dow is trading at 24,361.45 with a loss of -1.58% percent or -391.64 point. The S&P 500 is trading at 2,689.86 with a loss of -1.16% percent or -31.47 point.
Other leading market index closes included the small-cap Russell 2000 Index closed at 1,623.65 with a loss of -0.20% percent or -3.28 point; the S&P 600 Small-Cap Index closed at 1,004.17 with a loss of -0.047% percent or -0.47 point; the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index closed at 1,939.24 with a loss of -0.39% percent or -7.63 point; the S&P 100 Index closed at 1,180.34 with a loss of -1.19% percent or -14.19 point; the Russell 3000 Index closed at 1,601.62 with a loss of -1.01% percent or -16.39 point; the Russell 1000 Index closed at 1,493.93 with a loss of -1.08% percent or -16.34 point;
Futures were pointing to a significantly lower opening for stocks this morning, with S&P 500 futures following European markets and trading around one percent lower than Friday’s close. The reason, we are told, is Italy. Or more specifically, Italian politics.
Over the long weekend, the fruits of Italy’s inconclusive March election were seen when the populist and anti-establishment parties who had been trying to form a ruling coalition failed, and the former IMF official Carlo Cottarelli was appointed Interim Prime Minister and tasked with forming a government. For those of us accustomed to living under a political system designed to produce clear-cut electoral winners, that may be a little confusing and may not seem to be particularly relevant to U.S. equities, yet here we are with markets falling.