US equity-index futures declined, alongside stock prices in Europe and Asia, following China’s threat of unspecified retaliation following a newly passed US Senate bill to support human rights in Hong Kong.
The bill would force the Trump administration to annually re-examine Hong Kong’s special status.
China's displeasure with the Senate resolution, known as the "Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act" comes at a sensitive juncture in trade negotiations, and will likely complicate discussions further, as both sides look to seal a near-term trade agreement.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Geng Shuang, said the Senate move was designed to "bolster anti-China, extremist and violent radicals who attempt to disrupt Hong Kong" and cautioned that "all attempts to interfere in or impede China's development will be in vain."
Donald Trump, meanwhile, told a cabinet meeting on Tuesday; "if we don't make a deal with China, I'll just raise the tariffs even higher."
These headlines come after Tuesday’s session, where the Nasdaq (+0.15%) closed at another record high, while disappointing sales forecasts from Kohl's (KSS: -19.49%) and Home Depot (HD: -5.44%) weighed on the S&P 500 (-0.03%) and Dow Jones (-0.34%).
Ahead, in today’s economic calendar, Wednesday includes; Crude Oil Inventories for the week ended Nov. 15 at 10:30am EST, followed by minutes from the Federal Reserve's Oct. 30 meeting at 2pm EST.
In corporate news; Target's (TGT) and Lowe's (LOW) have both reported their latest financial results this morning.
TODAY'S TOP HEADLINES
China & Hong Kong: US Senate Passes Hong Kong Democracy Bill. (Bloomberg)
The US Senate unanimously passed a bill aimed at supporting protesters in Hong Kong and warning China against a violent suppression of the demonstrations, drawing a rebuke from Beijing.
ECONOMIC CALENDAR
Today's Economical Announcements.
10:30AM - ★★★ - Crude Oil Inventories (Previous: 2.219M)
02:00PM - ★★★ - FOMC Meeting Minutes
STOCKS IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Pre-Market Movers & News Related Stocks.
Target (TGT): [EARNINGS] Reported earnings per share of $1.36 on revenue of $18.67 billion. Analysts polled by Refinitiv expected a profit of $1.19 per share on revenue of $18.49 billion. Same-store sales, a key metric for retailers, rose 4.5% to top a Refinitiv estimate of 3.6%.
Lowe’s (LOW): [EARNINGS] Posted an adjusted profit of $1.41 per share. Analysts polled by Refinitv expected earnings per share of $1.35. Lowe’s also hiked its earnings outlook for fiscal 2019.
Canopy Growth (CGC): [UPGRADE] Bank of America upgraded the Canadian cannabis company to “buy” from “neutral,” noting the “worst looks over” for the beaten-down stock. Canopy’s valuation at current levels is “more reasonable” and Wall Street’s estimates are “achievable”. Canopy shares are down more than 40% this year.
Alibaba (BABA): [NEWS] Will likely price its Hong Kong IPO at around HK$176, a source told CNBC. That would make it the biggest listing of 2019 thus far.
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ): [RATING] Initiated with an “overweight” rating by Cantor Fitzgerald, citing upward profit revisions to the company’s pharmaceutical business along with “diminishing headlines” around talc and opioids risk should boost Johnson & Johnson shares.
Salesforce.com (CRM): [GUIDANCE] Raised the higher end of its fiscal 2020 revenue guidance and now expects sales for the period to range between $16.99 billion and $17 billion. That’s above a Refinitiv median estimate of $16.863 billion.
Boeing (BA): [NEWS] Dubai-based airline Emirates finalized a deal to buy 30 Boeing 787 Dreamliner jets at the Dubai Air Show on Wednesday. The deal is valued at around $9 billion.
MOMENTUM STOCKS
GAINERS: ATNX, AXSM, ACIW
DECLINERS: KSS, M, BBBY, HD
TODAY'S IPOs
YX Asset Recovery (YXR) (Low: 7.75, High: 9.75) (Est. Vol: $81.2M)
