Investing.com - Here are the top five things you need to know in financial markets on Wednesday, July 5:
1. Fed meeting minutes to garner attention
The Federal Reserve will release minutes of its most recent policy meeting on Wednesday at 2:00PM ET (1800GMT).
The Fed raised interest rates as widely expected following its meeting on June 14 and maintained plans to go ahead with another rate hike by year-end. The central bank also provided greater detail about how it plans to reduce its massive $4.5 trillion balance sheet.
Despite the Fed's relatively hawkish message, market players remained doubtful over the central bank's ability to raise rates as much as it would like in the coming months due to softening inflation.
Futures traders have recently come around to the possibility that central bank could increase rates this year and are pricing in about a 52% chance of a hike at the Fed's December meeting, according to Investing.com’s Fed Rate Monitor Tool.
Also on the economic calendar, investors will digest factory orders for May at 10:00AM ET (14:00GMT).
2. Dollar shows strength, gold slips as Wall Street reopens doors
Ahead of the Fed minutes and factory orders, the dollar was steady against a basket of the other major currencies as U.S. traders returned to their desks on Wednesday after the Independence Day holiday.
At 5:59AM ET (9:59GMT), the U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, rose 0.20% at 96.18.
Despite the stronger dollar, gold remained near two-month lows on Wednesday, as concern over North Korea’s intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launch supported the safe haven asset.
While Americans were busy celebrating Independence Day, North Korea successfully test-launched a first ICBM on Tuesday, which analysts said could put all of the U.S. state of Alaska in range for the first time.
Comex gold futures were at $1,218.30 a troy ounce by 6:14AM ET (10:14GMT), off $0.90, or just 0.07%.
3. Global stocks mixed as U.S. traders return to desks
Global equities were mixed on Wednesday with U.S. traders returning to their desks after the Fourth of July holiday and U.S. futures pointed to flat to lower open in the Dow and S&P while tech stocks looked set for slight losses of around 0.3%.
European shares traded mostly lower on Wednesday. At 6:01AM ET (10:01GMT), the European benchmark Euro Stoxx 50 lost 0.37% and London's FTSE 100 dropped 0.13%. Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 managed to hold onto minimal gains of 0.01% and 0.07%, respectively.
Earlier, Asian stocks closed mostly higher with China’s Shanghai Composite up around 0.8% and Japan’s Nikkei having gained 0.2%.
4. Oil slumps more than 1%
Oil prices fell more than 1% on Wednesday, ending their longest bull-run in over five years, as climbing OPEC exports and a stronger dollar turned sentiment more bearish and markets kept a watchful eye on trends in the commodity.
Crude exports by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) rose for a second month in June, according to Thomson Reuters Oil Research, despite its agreement to curb production through March 2018 in order to reduce the global supply glut..
According to the report, OPEC exported 25.92 million barrels per day (bpd) in June, 450,000 bpd above May and 1.9 million bpd more than a year earlier.
U.S. crude oil futures fell 1.49% to $46.37 at 6:03AM ET (10:03GMT), while Brent oil lost 1.39% to $48.92.
Investors looked ahead to weekly data on U.S. crude inventories as industry group the American Petroleum Institute (API) will release its report at 4:30PM ET (20:30GMT) later on Wednesday.
Official data from the Energy Information Administration will be released Thursday, amid forecasts for an oil-stock drop of around 2.8 million barrels.
The reports come out one day later than usual due to the U.S. Independence Day holiday on Tuesday.
5. Global service sector activity in focus
Readings on global service sector purchasing managers’ indices (PMI) in June were mixed, according to reports released Wednesday.
China's services sector grew at a slower pace in June as new orders slumped, signaling renewed pressure on businesses after a pickup in May and pointing to a softening outlook for the economy, a private business survey showed on Wednesday.
The Caixin services PMI for the world’s second largest economy unexpectedly dropped to 51.6 in June, compared to expectations for a slight advance to 52.9.
To the contrary, euro zone service sector activity generally beat expectations thanks to stronger readings from Germany, France and Spain, though Italy saw a weaker reading than expected and, over in the U.K., activity eased more than expected over concern on ongoing Brexit negotiations.
Market players will check in on the U.S. service sector activity on Thursday when the Institute of Supply Management releases its own non-manufacturing PMI.