FOX: Futures Fall Amid Geopolitical Jitters, Ahead of GDP
U.S. equity futures pointed to a lower start on Wall Street after conflict overseas – this time between Turkey and Russia – and as investors awaited a deluge of economic data.
As of 8:15 a.m. ET, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were 104 points lower, or 0.58% to 17658. S&P 500 futures declined 12 points, or 0.61% to 2071, while Nasdaq 100 futures shed 29 points, or 0.63% to 4646.
Today’s Markets
Overnight, a Turkish jet shot down a Russian warplane near the border of Turkey and Syria after repeated warnings of airspace violations, though Russian President Vladimir Putin said the pilots “did not threaten anybody.”
The incident came hours before French President Francois Hollande was set to meet U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House to discuss an allied response to the November 13 terrorist attacks in Paris, and just hours after the U.S. State Department issued a travel warning for Americans going abroad due to “increased terrorist threats.”
“Syrian airspace has become increasingly populated by military planes from a variety of nations, and today’s news…is merely confirmation of the situation’s complexity. The subsequent collapse in Turkish lira and equities reflects how nervous investors are over military action in Syria,” IG market analyst Alastair McCaig said in a note.
The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury bond fell 0.025 percentage point to 2.225%, while the German Bund declined to -0.40%. Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar fell against a basket of traditionally safe-haven currencies.
European equity markets also took a step lower on the news. The Euro Stoxx 50, which tracks large cap-companies in the eurozone, declined 1.42%. The German Dax shed 1.22%, while the French CAC 40 shed 1.82%, and the UK’s FTSE 100 dropped 1.12%.
In the U.S., traders looked ahead to a data dump starting at 8:30 a.m. with the release of the Commerce Department’s second reading on third-quarter GDP. Economists forecasted a reading of 2.1% after a first reading showed the U.S. economy grew at an annualized pace of 1.5%, down from 3.9% in the second quarter.
Also on the calendar is home price data from S&P/Case-Shiller, which is forecasted to show prices climbed 0.4% during the reporting period; and consumer confidence data from the University of Michigan, expected to show shoppers grew more enthusiastic during the reporting period.
Elsewhere in the market, commodity prices saw green as global oil prices jumped on conflict in the Middle East, and as the weaker dollar provided momentum to buy. U.S. crude prices jumped 1.87% to $42.52 a barrel, while Brent, the international benchmark, spiked 2.19% to $45.83 a barrel.
Metal prices, meanwhile, were also higher as gold, traditionally a safe haven, jumped 1.13% to $1,078 a troy ounce. Silver prices gained 1.20% to $14.23 an ounce, while copper added 0.57% to $2.03 a pound.
On the corporate news front, Tiffany (TIF) reported a surprise decline in quarterly revenue as the strong dollar dented the luxury retailer’s ability to lure in foreign buyers in the U.S. Same-store sales dropped 5% during the third quarter.
Investors also looked ahead to the latest quarterly results after the closing bell from Hewlett-Packard (HPQ). The hardware giant is expected to reveal earnings per share of 45 cents on revenue of $12.86 billion.
