US pre-open: Futures edge lower ahead of raft of data and earnings

US stock futures edged marginally lower on Wednesday, as investors awaited a raft of economic data and corporate earnings.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is expected to open approximately 11 points lower than Tuesday's close, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq are set to begin the session two and nine points down respectively.

Retail sales, earnings in focus

After two largely quiet days, activity on the economic calendar picks up on Wednesday, with a number of key economic reports set for release throughout the session.

Reports on retail sales and producer prices for September are both on tap at 1330 BST, followed at 1500 BST by a reading on business inventories for August.

In company news, Intel slid 0.53% in pre-market trading after the IT giant reported slower in its data-centre businesses, although its quarterly profit beat forecasts.

JP Morgan Chase & Co was down 1.62% ahead of the bell after saying late on Tuesday its quarterly revenue fell short of expectations.

Bank of America, Wells Fargo & Co and BlackRock are set to report quarterly earnings ahead of the opening bell, while Netflix and SLM will be posted after the close.

“With JP Morgan missing profit expectations last night, investors are understandably nervy ahead of today’s second wave of third quarter banking sector releases,” said Connor Campbell, financial analyst at Spreadex.

Chinese data disappoints again

Elsewhere, European stocks were mostly in the red on the back of Asian market weakness stemming from China’s National Bureau of Statistics announcement that the consumer price index rose 1.6% year-on-year in September compared with a 2% increase in August and with analysts’ expectations for a 1.8% gain.

Some economists were sanguine about the prospects for deflation in the People's Republic, however. Julian Evans-Pritchard, China economist at Capital Economics, said: “We expect the fall in consumer price inflation to be temporary.

“As the sharp falls in the price of oil and other commodities late last year begin to drop out of the base for comparison over the coming months, both CPI and PPI are likely to pick-up markedly, easing concerns over deflation.”

Oil prices were weaker, with West Texas Intermediate losing 0.41% to $46.47 a barrel, while Brent edged 0.65% lower to $48.92 a barrel, while the dollar was on the back foot against major currencies.

The greenback was down 0.18% and 0.20% against the yen and the euro respectively, and 0.66% against the pound.

“If both core retail and retail sales fail to meet expectations, this may add to the recent rope of soft US economic data from October which will result in additional downward pressures on the US dollar,” said FXTM research analyst Lukman Otunuga.