U.S. Stocks May Move Back To The Upside Ahead Of Fed Minutes

(RTTNews) - After ending yesterday's choppy trading session modestly lower, stocks may move back to the upside in early trading on Wednesday. The major index futures are currently pointing to a slightly higher open for the markets, with the S&P 500 futures up by 0.2 percent.

Optimism about the outlook for interest rates may lead stocks to resume their upward trend ahead of the release of the minutes of the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy meeting.

The Fed is due to release the minutes of its late July meeting this afternoon, and traders will be looking for the minutes to support expectations of an interest rate cut next month.

Ahead of the release of the minutes, CME Group's FedWatch Tool suggests there is a 67.5 percent of a quarter point rate cut next month and a 32.5 percent chance of a half point rate cut.

Later in the week, remarks by Fed Chair Jerome Powell and other Fed officials at the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium are also likely to attract attention.

Among individual stocks, shares of Target (TGT) are moving sharply higher in pre-market trading after the retailer reported fiscal second quarter earnings that far exceeded analyst estimates.

Electronic measurement technology company Keysight Technologies (KEYS) is also seeing significant pre-market strength after reporting better than expected fiscal third quarter results.

On the other hand, shares of Macy's (M) may come under pressure after the department store operator reported mixed fiscal second quarter results and cut its full-year sales forecast.

Chinese e-commerce company JD.com (JD) is also likely to move to the downside on news Walmart (WMT) has sold its entire stake in the company.

After trending higher for several sessions, stock showed a lack of direction over the course of the trading day on Tuesday. The major averages bounced back and forth across the unchanged line before eventually ending the day modestly lower.

The major averages finished the session well off their worst levels of the day but still in the red. The Dow dipped 61.56 points or 0.2 percent to 40,834.97, the Nasdaq fell 59.83 points or 0.3 percent to 17,816.94 and the S&P 500 slipped 11.13 points or 0.2 percent to 5,597.12.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region once again turned in a mixed performance on Wednesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index and China's Shanghai Composite Index fell by 0.3 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively, while South Korea's Kospi and Australia's S&P/ASX 2000 Index both inched up by 0.2 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets have all moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index is up by 0.6 percent, the French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.5 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.2 percent.

In commodities trading, crude oil futures are inching up $0.13 to $73.30 a barrel after falling $0.49 to $73.17 a barrel on Tuesday. Meanwhile, an ounce of gold is trading at $2,548.60, down $2 compared to the previous session's close of $2,550.60. On Tuesday, gold rose $9.30.

On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 145.79 yen compared to the 145.26 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Tuesday. Against the euro, the dollar is trading at $1.1125 compared to yesterday's $1.1138.