Futures largely flat ahead of retail sales data, Fed minutes

[February 16, 2022]  By Susan Mathew

(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures eased on Wednesday with retail sales data and minutes of the Federal Reserve's last meeting on investors' radar, while Western skepticism over Russian claims of a pullback of some troops near Ukraine kept caution in the air.

While Russia said more of its forces surrounding Ukraine were withdrawing on Wednesday, NATO said it was yet to be convinced. Kyiv, meanwhile, hinted at Russian involvement in a cyber attack on Ukraine's defence ministry website.

News of the pullback had seen the Nasdaq surge 2.5% on Tuesday, while the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones each ended more than 1% higher.

At 6:52 a.m. ET on Wednesday, Dow e-minis were down 43 points, or 0.12%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 4.25 points, or 0.1%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 4 points, or 0.03%.

Shares of big banks edged lower, while those of major growth names Apple Inc, Google-owner Alphabet Inc, Amazon.com Inc, Microsoft Corp, Meta Platforms Inc and Tesla Inc were mixed after rallying strongly in the previous session.

Retail sales, due at 08:30 a.m. ET, are expected to have jumped 2% in January after having declined by almost the same measure in the month before, while Fed minutes due at 2 p.m. ET are likely to shed light on the central bank's plans to trim its massive balance sheet and hike interest rates in 2022.

Traders priced in a 57.9% chance for a 50 basis point hike in March, down from 61.8% on Tuesday, while bets for a 25 bps hike rose to 42.1% from around 38% according to CME Group's Fedwatch tool.

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., February 15, 2022. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

"So the game is not over yet for the March meeting: a more dovish than expected tone from the FOMC minutes could get the market re-focus on a 25-bp hike," said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote.

Meanwhile, drugmaker Moderna's chief executive Stephane Bancel said in a CNBC interview on Wednesday that it is "reasonable" to assume that the final stages of the pandemic may be near as the evolution of the coronavirus may lead to less virulent viruses.

Shares of ViacomCBS Inc slumped 9.7% after it missed profit forecasts. The company announced it will change its name to Paramount and unveiled a broad range of new programming as it attempts to stay ahead in the crowded streaming space.

Roblox Corp tumbled 15.9% after the gaming platform missed analysts' expectations for quarterly bookings as the pandemic-driven frenzy for its video games waned.

Airbnb Inc gained 3% after the short-term home rental company forecast better-than-expected first-quarter revenue on strong travel demand and longer stays.

Devon Energy Corp rose 2.3% after the oil producer reported fourth-quarter results above Wall Street estimates.

(Reporting by Susan Mathew in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)

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