Opening Comment — Wednesday, July 09, 2025
DJIA: 44,240.76, down 165.60
S&P 500: 6,225.52, down 4.46
NASDAQ: 20,418.46, up 5.94
Stocks higher ahead of Fed minutes
Stock futures are higher Wednesday morning ahead of today’s release of the Federal Reserve’s (Fed’s) minutes from the June 17-18 Federal Open Market Committee meeting. As of 7:19 AM ET, the Dow and the S&P 500 Index are both rising 0.2%. The Nasdaq 100 is increasing 0.1% relative to fair value on the GLOBEX.
U.S. equities were mostly lower on Tuesday following President Donald Trump saying the August 1 tariff implementation date was final, announcing a 50% tariff on copper, and discussing a high tariff on pharmaceutical imports if drug makers do not move production to the U.S. within the next year. Consumer credit showed a smaller-than-expected increase in May, while the New York Fed’s measure of one-year ahead inflation expectations fell to 3.02% for June. The Dow was down 0.4%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was little changed. The S&P 500 decreased 0.1% with six of 11 sectors finishing in negative territory. The Energy sector was the top performer, rising 2.7%, while the Consumer Staples sector was the bottom performer, falling 1.1%.
On the data front, the Mortgage Bankers Association’s gauge of mortgage applications rose 9.4% for the week ending July 4 versus the prior week’s increase of 2.7%. The finalized May reading of wholesale inventories is expected to show a decrease of 0.3% month-over-month (MOM), similar to the prior reading, while May’s wholesale trade sales is expected to come in at 0.2% MOM versus the prior month’s increase of 0.1%. The Department of Energy’s measure of crude oil inventories is expected to have decreased by 1.60 million barrels for the week ending July 4 versus the prior week’s increase of 3.85 million barrels.
Across the pond, European stocks are higher in mid-day trading as investors await further U.S. – E.U. trade talk developments.
Overnight in Asia, stocks were mixed as China’s June Producer Price Index deflation unexpectedly accelerated, with prices declining by 3.6% year-over-year (YOY), while the country’s Consumer Price Index unexpectedly rose 0.1% YOY in June. Meanwhile, Japanese preliminary machine tool orders decreased by 0.5% YOY for June.
In FOREX trading, the dollar is slightly higher as investors await additional color from the Fed’s most recent meeting with today’s release of the minutes.
Over in the commodity pits, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil is 0.3% higher at $68.56/barrel ahead of an expected decline in crude oil inventories.
In the metals complex, gold is 0.5% lower at $3,302.00/ounce following a strengthening dollar.