U.S. stock futures on Wednesday signaled a lower open, as sentiment was hit by a drop in oil prices.
The market is slated to take in a fresh reading on home sales, along with government data on U.S. supplies of crude, which rallied on Tuesday and helped stocks close higher.
S&P 500 futures ESH6, -0.16% dropped 2.55 points, or 0.1%, to 2,070.25, while those for the Dow Jones Industrial Average YMH6, -0.18% declined by 26 points, or 0.2%, to 17,612. Nasdaq 100 futures NQH6, -0.09% pulled back by 4.25 points, or 0.1%, to 4,686.25.
The U.S. oil benchmark CLG6, -2.51% traded about 2.5% lower, while Brent crude LCOG6, -1.80% fell 1.8%. Oil turned south after American Petroleum Institute estimates late Tuesday indicated a surprise rise in U.S. crude supplies last week. Traders are now watching for official inventories data from the Energy Information Administration that’s expected at 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time.
There is “only one thing” on the minds of traders on Wednesday, and that’s “the commodity market and how it will pan out next year,” said Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at AvaTrade, in a note. The “highlight for the day” will be the EIA report on crude supplies, he added.
With two trading days left in 2015, the S&P 500 SPX, +1.06% is on track for a gain of about 1% for the year as of Tuesday’s close. The Dow DJIA, +1.10% is down 0.6% in the year to date, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite COMP, +1.33% is up 7.9%.
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Other markets: European equities SXXP, -0.11% were trading mostly lower, while Asian markets closed mixed, with Australian shares up for a ninth session in a row as the energy sector gained. A key dollar index DXY, +0.03% inched higher, and gold futures GCG6, -0.14% edged lower.
Individual movers: Traders on Wednesday are likely to keep an eye on Amazon.com Inc. AMZN, -0.34% and Google parent Alphabet Inc. GOOG, +1.85% GOOGL, +1.50% after their shares scored record closes on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, KaloBios Pharmaceuticals Inc. KBIO, -5.09% — the company that’s majority owned by controversial biotech investor Martin Shkreli — has filed for bankruptcy. Shares have been halted since Dec. 17, the day that Shkreli was arrested on fraud charges.
Economic news: At 10 a.m. Eastern Time, a November report on pending home sales is due, with economists polled by MarketWatch expecting 1% growth.
In other economic news, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde warned in a guest column for Germany’s Handelsblatt newspaper that global economic growth will be “disappointing and uneven in 2016.”
