Wall Street is brushing off a larger-than-expected first-quarter GDP reading
Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) futures aresignaling a bigboost ahead of a jam-packed news day on Wall Street. Earnings season is in high gear, with both Boeing (BA) and Alphabet (GOOGL) sharing notable reports. Meanwhile, futures on the Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX) and S&P 500 Index (SPX) are moving higher as well.
Elsewhere, investors are weighing the initial reading of first-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) that showed a larger-than-anticipated 4.8% contraction. However, stock futures shook off those results after biotech Gilead Sciences (GILD) shared upbeat data on its coronavirus treatment, remdesivir. Later today, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting will wrap up, with Fed Chair Jerome Powell set to give remarks shortly after.
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Today will bring the the pending home sales index, and the Fed's interest rate decision. Fed Chair Jerome Powell will hold his press conference at 2 p.m. ET. On the earnings front will be eBay (EBAY), Facebook (FB), General Electric (GE), Microsoft (MSFT), Qualcomm (QCOM),and Tesla (TSLA).
Asian markets saw modest gains on Wednesday as earnings continued to roll in. The Hong Kong Hang Seng added 0.3%, buoyed by a post-earnings surge in the Hong Kong-listed shares of Standard Charter, while the Shanghai Composite in China finished 0.4% higher. Over in South Korea, the Kospi managed to tack on 0.7%, despite a first-quarter net profit miss from Samsung Electronics. The Nikkei in Japan was closed for holiday.
In Europe, markets are mixed midday, with the bourses weighing a whole new round of earnings. In the U.K., bank name Barclays stock is surging after a well-received earnings report, driving the London FTSE up 0.9%, while the German DAX is up 0.2% as Deutsche Bank brushed off a first-quarter miss. The French CAC 40, meanwhile, is down 0.2%.