Asia
China’s Shanghai Composite Index reversed its recent positive trend on Wednesday, losing 1%, but still clinging on to the key technical level of 3,000 points.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost less than 0.5%, while Japan’s Nikkei was off just below 1%.
Chinese industrial production and retail sales data is due towards the end of the week, as is the Bank of Japan’s policy announcement.
Europe
The non-reaction from the stock and currency markets to yet another bruising Brexit defeat by UK Prime Minister was notable. The FTSE 100 was barely changed on Wednesday morning and analysts pondered whether the next vote – to take no deal off the table – would actually be positive for the UK currency, which is higher than at the start of the week
The Eurozone saw modest moves, with France’s CAC just positive approaching midday, while Germany’s DAX was under water.
North America
The Dow’s divergence from the S&P 500 is expected to continue on Wednesday with Boeing weighing on the former. But S&P 500 futures are currently lacking a strong direction ahead of the open.
Boeing (BA) shares remained under pressure on Tuesday, losing 6%, and they are down 2% in pre-market trading.
In terms of US economics, provisional January data for durable goods orders are due on Wednesday. The data release is before the market opens. Looking ahead to Friday, the University of Michigan Sentiment index is due for March.