DAILY MORNING CHAI

The S&P 500 futures trade ten points, or 0.3%, above fair value following yesterday's afternoon rebound and ahead of Fed Chair Powell's testimony on the CARES Act before the House Financial Services Committee. In his prepared remarks, Mr. Powell said, "The path forward will depend on keeping the virus under control, and on policy actions taken at all levels of government," suggesting again the need for further fiscal stimulus. The hearing begins at 10:30 a.m. ET, and the Fed chair will speak two more times this week after today. Just before the congressional testimony, investors will receive the Existing Home Sales report for August (Briefing.com consensus 6.0 million) at 10:00 a.m. ET. Later today, Tesla's (TSLA 428.31, -21.08, -4.7%) Battery Day will be in focus, starting at 4:30 p.m. ET. Tesla CEO Elon Musk tempered some expectations last night, though. In the meantime, the market action has stabilized compared to recent sessions amid influential gains in t...

U.S. equity index futures are in retreat mode, extending three straight weeks of losses, as investors weigh the increased state of uncertainty in the market. Currently, the S&P 500 futures are down 43 points and trade 1.3% below fair value. There's political uncertainty following the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg; there's trade uncertainty after China announced provisions of its unreliable entity list without citing specific companies; there's banking uncertainty amid reports that several global banks, including JPMorgan Chase (JPM 93.65, -4.70, -4.8%), overlooked money laundering for nearly 20 years; and there's coronavirus uncertainty amid rising cases in Europe. There's less uncertainty on the TikTok front, however, after Oracle (ORCL 61.53, +1.78, +3.1%) and Walmart (WMT 136.34, +1.05, +0.8%) received tentative approval from the U.S. government regarding a deal. Shares of both companies are trading higher in pre-market action and both ...

The S&P 500 futures trade eight points, or 0.2%, above fair value as the market takes a breather at the end of a volatile trading week. Despite the losses over the past two sessions, the benchmark index is still up 0.5% for the week. The positive bias in the futures trade could be linked to the modest gains in the mega-caps stocks this morning, which have been under selling pressure recently. Cyclical sectors, ex financials, have picked up the slack, so it'll be interesting to see if they can build on their recent gains. One topic that will be of interest today and over the weekend is the TikTok ordeal. The U.S. Commerce Department said it will prohibit users from downloading TikTok and WeChat, starting Sunday. Shares of Oracle (ORCL 59.25, -0.93, -1.6%), which formed a technology partnership with TikTok, are down 1.6% in pre-market action. On the data front, investors will receive the Q2 Current Account Balance (Briefing consensus -$146.3 bln) at 8:30 a.m. ET, followed by t...

The S&P 500 futures trade 38 points, or 1.1%, below fair value to extend yesterday's post-FOMC selling. Losses are broad in pre-market action and overseas, threatening to erase this week's early rebound attempt. There is no discernible headline causing losses to carry over to today's session, suggesting the decline is technically-oriented and there are simply more sellers than buyers right now. The Fed, after all, caused no surprises with its policy decision and President Trump even said that he liked a $1.5 trillion relief bill proposed by centrist lawmakers. Coming up at 8:30 a.m. ET will be some key economic data. Investors will receive weekly Initial Claims (Briefing consensus 830,000) and Continuing Claims data, Housing Starts (Briefing.com consensus 1.489 mln) and Building Permits (Briefing consensus 1.520 mln) for August, and the Philadelphia Fed Index for September (Briefingconsensus 13.0). In other central bank news, the Bank of England maintained its bank r...

The S&P 500 futures trade 21 points, or 0.6%, above fair value ahead of key retail sales data this morning and the FOMC's policy decision later this afternoon. Futures are up for the third straight session as the market tries to extend its rebound. _____________________________ The Retail Sales report for August (Briefing.com consensus 1.0%) will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET, followed by the NAHB Housing Market Index for September (Briefing.com consensus 78) and Business Inventories for July (Briefing.com consensus 0.2%) at 10:00 a.m. ET, and Net Long-Term TIC Flows for July at 4:00 p.m. ET. As for the Fed, while no rate change is expected today (or years by some estimates), investors will look for any clearer guidance on the path of interest rates in addition to updated forecasts for economic growth, unemployment, and inflation. The policy directive will be released at 2:00 p.m. ET, followed by Fed Chair Powell's press conference at 2:30 p.m. ET. On the earnings front,...

The S&P 500 futures trade 25 points, or 0.7%, above fair value as the market builds on yesterday's broad-based advance. Economic data will be in focus this morning while the Fed begins its two-day policy meeting. Investors will receive the Empire State Manufacturing Survey for September (Briefing.com consensus 5.9) and Import and Export Prices for August at 8:30 a.m. ET, followed by Industrial Production (Briefing.com consensus 1.0%) and Capacity Utilization (Briefing.com consensus 71.7%) for August at 9:15 a.m. ET. Overseas, China's retail sales and industrial production data for August came in better than expected, helping Asian markets close mostly higher. China's Shanghai Composite increased 0.5% on Tuesday. Corporate news, which was a key driver in yesterday's session, has been relatively light this morning. U.S. futures, though, are drawing influential support from the resiliency in the mega-cap stocks like Apple (AAPL 117.70, +2.34, +2.0%), which is up 2.0...