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The
Kremlin on Wednesday said there was no sign of a breakthrough
yet, a day after pledging even as it welcomed the fact that Kyiv
has set out its demands to end the conflict in written form.
Russia on Tuesday pledged to cut down on military operations
around Kyiv and in northern Ukraine, while Ukraine proposed
adopting a neutral status.
Worries about the fallout from the war and rising rates hammered
markets in the first quarter, putting the main Wall Street
indexes on course for their worst quarterly showing since the
height of the pandemic selloff in 2020.
Still, the indexes are set to end March higher, with the S&P 500
erasing more than half its quarterly losses in the last few
days, powered by upbeat economic data and gains in megacaps.
Apple notched its 11th consecutive session of gains on Tuesday
but inched 0.5% lower in premarket trading.
Other megacap companies like Tesla Inc, Meta Platforms Inc,
Amazon.com Inc, Alphabet Inc and Microsoft Corp slipped between
0.1% and 0.5%. The NYSE FANG+TM index is up 8.8% so far this
month.
However, investors are questioning how long the surge can
continue in the face of a hawkish Federal Reserve, warnings of
recession from the bond market and geopolitical uncertainty.
The widely tracked U.S. 2-year/10-year Treasury yield curve
briefly inverted on Tuesday for the first time since September
2019, as bond investors bet that aggressive tightening by the
Fed could hurt the U.S. economy over the longer term. [US/]
The ADP National Employment Report, due at 08:15 a.m. ET, is
expected to show that private payrolls increased by 450,000 jobs
in March, compared to a rise of 475,000 jobs in February.
Oil majors Exxon Mobil Corp and Chevron Corp recovered about
0.6% each as crude prices clawed back some of this week's heavy
losses. [O/R]
At 07:18 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 85 points, or 0.24%, S&P
500 e-minis were down 11.75 points, or 0.25%, and Nasdaq 100
e-minis were down 56 points, or 0.37%.
Micron Technology rose 4.3% after the chipmaker forecast
third-quarter revenue above Wall Street estimates.
Lululemon Athletica Inc jumped 7.6% after forecasting full-year
profit and revenue above estimates as demand for athletic wear
remains strong even as people return to offices.
(Reporting by Bansari Mayur Kamdar and Amruta Khandekar in
Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)
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