Wall Street set for mostly flat start

After a fairly uneventful close on Wall Street on Tuesday, things do not look to have changed much, with the opening calls looking far from dramatic.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is forecast to edge up 22 points or 0.1%, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite are also expected to be virtually unchanged.

Investors are caught between welcoming the signs of economic recovery shown as the vaccination programmes progress, and worrying about the possible implications of that recovery for inflation and a rise in interest rates.

The latest Federal Reserve Beige Book, due later today, will give some clues as to how businesses and the central bank feel about the current economic situation. Otherwise, there is little in the way of data to swing the market one way or the other.

Four things to watch for on Wednesday:

• Companies in the earnings diary include data monitoring software group Splunk Inc (NASDAQ:SPLK), cloud data specialist NetApp Inc (NASDAQ:NTAP) and car parts retailer Advance Auto Parts Inc (NYSE:AAP)
• Shares in handmade and vintage products retail platform Etsy Inc (NASDAQ:ETSY) will also be in focus after the company announced a deal to buy fashion marketplace Depop for US$1.6bn
• AGMs from a number of major corporates including Google parent Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT) and Comcast Corp (NASDAQ:CMCSA) may also throw up some insights
• On the macro front, there is little happening however investors may be interested in US mortgage data as well as speeches from several Fed representatives

Story by ProactiveInvestors