· U.S. stock index futures pointed to a slightly higher open Wednesday morning, after ending a lengthy winning streak following President Donald Trump’s skeptical comments on the ongoing U.S.-China trade war.

At around 3.35 a.m. ET, Dow futures were up by around 17 points and indicated a positive open of more than 18 points. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq were also seen edging cautiously higher.

Trump on Tuesday said the world’s two largest economies have a “long way to go” on trade, and suggested that the U.S. could impose sanctions on an additional $325 billion worth of Chinese goods.



· A few of the largest U.S. banks on Tuesday warned investors of the effect multiple interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve could have on their bottom lines throughout the rest of 2019.

J.P. Morgan, Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs all mentioned the Fed’s path of monetary policy in their quarterly earnings reports, saying the profit impact could be felt in the near-term as the spread between the rate banks collect from borrowers and the rate they have to pay out to savers shrinks.



· European shares were flat in early trading on Wednesday as investors parsed through a mixed bag of corporate results, with rising Brexit uncertainty and trade tensions limiting the gains.

The pan-European stocks benchmark slipped 0.07% at 0711 GMT, in what could be its first day of decline in four days.



· Asian shares drifted off on Wednesday as anxious investors awaited more earnings reports from corporate America, while the dollar held firm in the wake of robust U.S. retail data and a Brexit-driven dive in the pound.

In stock markets trade was generally muted with MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan off 0.25%.

“We do not expect these solid (retail) results to impact the Fed’s decision to cut rates at the end of the month,” said Michelle Girard, chief U.S. economist at NatWest Markets.

“The Fed knows the U.S. consumer is strong; policymakers are worried about the downside risks associated with global growth and weak manufacturing/business investment, which is why they believe a rate cut is appropriate.”



· Japan’s Nikkei edged lower on Wednesday after U.S. President Donald Trump’s comments on trade soured risk sentiment, while tech shares slid in step with their U.S. counterparts.

But financial stocks such as banks and insurers, which benefit from higher yielding products such as foreign bonds, gained ground after U.S. Treasury yields rose on data showing U.S. retail sales increased more than expected in June.

The Nikkei share average fell 0.3% to 21,469.18, while the broader Topix dropped 0.1% to 1,567.41. Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones 1,399 to 672.



· Shares in China finished lower in thin trade on Wednesday, extending the previous day’s small losses as investors continued to fret over slowing growth and the impact of the Sino-U.S. trade dispute, and await more signs of support from Beijing.

At the close, the Shanghai Composite index was down 0.2% at 2,931.69.



Reference: CNBC, Reuters