The major European markets are moving to the upside on Wednesday following three straight sessions of losses. The French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index are rising 0.79% and 1.26%, respectively, while the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index is gaining 0.54%.On the economic front, shop price inflation in the U.K. eased to 1.8% in May from 2% in April, according to a report released by the British Retail Consortium. Food inflation rose to 2.2% from the month-ago’s 2%, while non-food price inflation eased to 1.6% from April’s 2%.
The U.K. Office for National Statistics reported that the U.K.’s goods trade deficit came in at 7.3 billion pounds in April, almost unchanged from March’s deficit. Economists had expected a deficit of 7 billion pounds. The deficit on the trade of goods and services widened to 3.3 billion pounds from 3.2 billion pounds in the month-ago period, while the services surplus fell slightly to 4.1 billion pounds.
U.S. Economic ReportsThe Commerce Department is due to release its wholesale inventories report at 10 AM ET. Economists expect wholesale inventories at the end of April to show a 0.5% increase.
Wholesale inventories at the end of the March were up 0.4% compared to the previous month. Wholesale sales rose 2.4% month-over-month, with the inventories to sales ratio fell to 1.13 from 1.39 in the same month a year ago.
The Energy Information Administration is scheduled to release its weekly petroleum inventory report for the week ended June 4th at 10:30 AM ET.
Crude oil inventories fell by 1.9 million barrels to 363.2 million barrels in the week ended May 28th. Crude oil stockpiles were still above the upper limit the average range for this time of the year.
Gasoline inventories also fell, dropping by 2.6 million barrels, but were still above the upper limit of the average range. On the other hand, distillate inventories rose by 0.5 million barrels and were above the upper boundary of the average range. Refinery capacity utilization averaged 87.9% over the four-weeks ended May 28th compared to 88.4% in the previous week.
The Federal Reserve is due to release its Beige Book, a compilation of anecdotal evidence on economic conditions from each of the 12 Federal Reserve districts, at 2 PM ET. The report is normally released about two weeks before the monetary policy meeting is held.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is due to testify before the House Budget Committee beginning at 10 am ET. Bernanke is also scheduled to make remarks at a Richmond Federal Reserve Bank forum on employment trends in Richmond at 4 PM ET.
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