Here are the top 5 things to know for today’s trading in financial markets.
1. U.S. data on tap before markets close for Thanksgiving
After U.S. markets closed a day earlier at record highs, a series of data will likely decide the outcome of Wednesday’s trade as investors prepare for the Thanksgiving holiday.
At 13:30GMT, the wave of references on the health of the American economy will begin with durable goods orders and initial jobless claims.
A half an hour later, markets will evaluate the house price index for December.
Markit will then publish its preliminary manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for November at 14:45GMT.
At 15:00GMT, investors will digest October new home sales and the revision to the Michigan consumer sentiment report for November.
2. Global stocks mixed, light trading expected
Wednesday’s trading stateside is expected to be thin, with many traders planning to close their books early for the Thanksgiving holiday. U.S. markets will be closed Thursday and Friday will be a half-session day.
In that light, U.S. futures pointed to a flat open on Wednesday after indices closed a day earlier at record highs. At 10:56GMT, the blue-chip Dow futures were unchanged, S&P 500 futures slipped 1 point, or 0.03%, and the Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 3 points, or 0.06%.
Elsewhere, European stocks were trading mixed as markets were focusing on a string of manufacturing and service sector data from the euro zone.
Earlier, Asian stocks bounced to one-week highs on Wednesday as investors tried to share in the exuberance of Wall Street's record run. The Tokyo Stock Exchange was closed on Wednesday for the Labor Thanksgiving Day.
3. Oil moves higher as hopes for production cut
Market participants continued to place bets on the ability for OPEC to reach an agreement on a cap for oil output at their official meeting on November 30.
After a two-day meeting of the OPEC technical committee that ended on Tuesday, it was decided that next week’s gathering will debate a crude production cut of 4% to 4.5% for all its members except Libya and Nigeria next week.
However, doubts remained that Iran and Iraq would be willing to participate in a reduction.
Still ahead on Wednesday, market players looked to the publication of U.S. crude inventories as well, Baker Hughes’ data on activity of oil drillers in the U.S. This last data point was moved ahead because of the Thanksgiving holiday.
U.S. crude oil futures gained 0.27% to $48.16 at 10:58GMT, while Brent oil traded up 0.29% to $49.26.
4. Dollar steady as odds predict second Fed rate hike
Markets have generally accepted that the Federal Reserve (Fed) will tighten monetary policy at the December 13-14 meeting with odds moving between 95% and 100% this week.
Looking ahead, amid speculation over what policies President-elect Donald Trump will embark on when he takes office in January, the odds for a second-rate hike mid-summer have recently been ticking up.
The chance of a second increase in June had edged up to 54.5%. That compared to last week when the odds were below the 50% threshold at 45.9%.
Heightened expectations for monetary policy tightening coupled with speculation that Trump policy will spur inflation and strengthen the economy have kept the dollar near 14-year highs against major rivals.
At 10:59GMT, the U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.02% at 101.11.
5. U.K. to eye budget plan in a Statement
U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond is scheduled to outline a series of measures to help “ordinary working-class families” in the Autumn Statement at 12:30GMT.
The statement will provide the first official estimate of the impact of the U.K.’s decision to leave the European Union (EU), known as Brexit.
Expectations are that Hammond may will lower the forecast for growth in the British economy in 2017 to around 1.4%, from the prior 2.2%, in what would be the biggest reduction since the euro zone crisis.
Based on lower growth, analysts will eye Hammond’s expectations for the government borrowing.
Ahead of the publication, London’s FTSE 100 was returning gains of around 0.5%, while the pound was under pressure against the dollar with GBP/USD down 0.4%.