Investing.com - Here are the top five things you need to know in financial markets on Tuesday, February 19
1. 16 States Sue Trump Over Border Wall Funds
A coalition of 16 U.S. states led by California filed a lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump's national emergency declaration to obtain funds for building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on Monday, came after Trump invoked emergency powers late last week to build a border wall along the nation's southern border.
Trump's order would allow him to spend funds that Congress appropriated for other purposes. Congress declined to fulfil his request for $5.7 billion to help build the wall this year.
2. U.S.-China Trade Talks Resume in Washington
A new round of trade talks between the United States and China begins in Washington, as the two sides race to reach a deal that would avert a tariff increase on Chinese goods by March 1.
The talks are aimed at "achieving needed structural changes in China that affect trade between the U.S. and China. The two sides will also discuss China's pledge to purchase a substantial amount of goods and services from the U.S.," the White House said in a statement on Monday.
The discussions follow a round of negotiations that ended in Beijing last week without a deal, but which officials said had generated progress on contentious issues between the world's two largest economies.
U.S. tariffs on $200 billion in imports from China are set to rise to 25% from 10% if no deal is reached by March 1, but Trump said that he may extend the deadline if the two sides were close enough to an agreement.
3. U.S. Futures Point to Lower Open
U.S. stock futures pointed to a subdued open at the start of the trading week, as market participants awaited developments from the U.S.-China trade talks.
At 5:35AM ET (10:35 GMT), the blue-chip Dow futures were down 45 points, or about 0.2%, the S&P 500 futures shed 4 points, or around 0.2%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a decline of 5 points, or roughly 0.1%.
U.S. financial markets were closed on Monday for Washington's Birthday, more widely known as Presidents Day.
Elsewhere, European stocks edged down slightly, falling from highs not seen since October, as disappointing results from HSBC and BHP Group underlined concerns over slowing corporate profits, while Germany's ZEW index showed only a modest improvement in sentiment in February and new industrial orders and sales in Italy fell more sharply than expected.
Earlier, Asian shares closed mixed.
4. Oil Prices Hold Near 2019 Highs
In commodities, oil prices stayed near their highest levels of the year, as supply cuts led by producer cartel OPEC continued to support sentiment in crude markets.
International Brent crude oil futures were at $66.21 per barrel, down 28 cents, or about 0.4% from their last close, but still not far off the 2019 high of $66.83 a barrel hit in the previous session.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures rose 36 cents, or around 0.6%, to $56.34 per barrel, within sight of a three-month high of $56.55.
Read more: U.S. Targets OPEC Oil Autonomy As Production Cuts Bear Fruit: Barani Krishnan
5. Walmart Reports Earnings
Walmart (NYSE:WMT) is one of the last notable names slated to report quarterly results, as the fourth-quarter earnings season winds down.
The retail giant is expected to post earnings of $1.33 per share on revenue of $138.81 billion for the three months to January 31, according to analysts polled by Investing.com, when it reports before the opening bell.
U.S. same-store sales are expected to rise 3.0% from a year earlier
Investors will be closely watching the results to see whether its ongoing efforts to take on Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) in the online retail space are paying off.
Other notable companies reporting results today include, Advance Auto Parts (NYSE:AAP), Medtronic (NYSE:MDT), and Herbalife (NYSE:HLF).
-- Reuters contributed to this report