
How to Scare Away the Brexit Blues? Listen to the Fed
U.S. stock futures were slightly positive Wednesday evening as investors remained upbeat in line with trading on Wall Street, helped along by Fed comments that show an interest-rate hike is unlikely in the near future.
Futures for the S&P were unchanged, while the Nasdaq was up 0.06% and the Dow 0.01% at 9:18 p.m. EDT even after Asian stock markets opened lower.
Investors Thursday will likely remain buoyed by the Fed comments as they await more economic data from the June jobs report, due Friday. They're also heartened by positive earnings results from hard-drive maker Western Digital (WDC) - Get Report , one of the first to offer a sign of news to come in this young earnings season.
The lightly green futures reflect other positive indicators of Wednesday's cheery mood, which included a bounce in the pound. The beleaguered U.K. currency recovered a touch from a 31-year low earlier Wednesday of $1.288 to trade at $1.2932 as of 9:09 p.m. EDT.
Oil also enjoyed a reprieve with industry standard Brent crude up 0.74% per barrel to $49.16 for September delivery, while Texas crude recovered 0.78% to $47.80, though, for delivery next month, at 9:09 p.m. EDT.
U.S. investors Wednesday were bolstered by remarks by Fed members that showed they were weary of a rate hike in the face of the U.K.'s decision to leave the EU. The central bank released minutes of its June meeting, which indicated the members were in agreement to wait for more information before changing U.S. economic strategy.
Keeping rates low helps stocks, since investors have little incentive to invest in government bonds or other forms of debt.
In Wednesday's session, the S&P 500 closed 0.54% higher, the Dow Jones Industrial Average 0.44% and the Nasdaq moved 0.75% higher.
While the Fed helped U.S. investors shake their Brexit woes, Europe is still deeply worried about the effects of an EU without the U.K. The FTSE 100 tumbled 1.25%, while Germany's Dax tumbled 1.67%. Paris' CAC fared even worse, with a 1.88% decline.
Asia appears unimpressed with a stellar earnings report from electronics giant Samsung. The Nikkei slipped 0.21% in early Tokyo trading, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng opened 0.23% lower.
Technology investors Thursday are likely to be encouraged by Western Digital's announcement that it now expects to earn $3.46 billion in its current fiscal fourth quarter, up from an earlier forecast of between $3.35 billion and $3.45 billion.
The Irvine, Calif.-based hard-drive maker put out the announcement as it also unveiled the appointment of Mark Long as its CFO. Long will replace Olivier Leonetti, who is stepping down and gave with the generic reason of pursuing "other opportunities." The stock was up 4.7% to $45.46 in extended trading on the news.
Western Digital wasn't the only technology company switching on bright earnings. Korean electronics company Samsung said it had operating income in the last quarter of 8.1 trillion won ($6.9 billion), well above the 7.38 trillion expected by analysts and higher than the year-earlier operating profit of 6.9 trillion won.
The company has benefited from strong interest in its S7 cellphones, as arch rival Apple (AAPL) - Get Report suffers from slower sales because it's between cycles and expected to release its latest iPhone iteration in the fall.
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