June 23rd, 2011 
admin Despite the Greek PM winning the confidence vote, US futures were down slightly on Wednesday morning as investors turned cautious ahead of the latest Federal Reserve choice on interest rates.
As of 8:00am EST, futures on the Dow were down 8.00 points, or 0.07%, to 12,080.00, while S&P 500 futures fell slightly by 0.90 points, or 0.07%, to 1,287.00. Futures on the Nasdaq dropped 3.75 points, or 0.17%, to trade at 2,240.25.
On Tuesday, US stocks loved a broad-based rally as investors anticipated that Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou would win the confidence vote, paving the way for more austerity measures, including budget cuts, tax hikes, and asset sales. The Dow closed up by 109.63 points, or 0.91%, to 12,190.01.
Early Wednesday, Papandreou won the vote, meaning the EU country has a better chance of not defaulting on its loans.
But this positive news turned from focus, as investors awaited the Fed’s latest interest rate choice, to be announced at 12:30pm EDT. Many expect that interest rates will remain steady. Chairman Ben Bernanke is due to hold a press conference at 2:15pm EDT today.
European markets were mixed on the day, with Britain’s FTSE 100 down slightly by 0.17%, and Germany’s DAX up by 0.30%.
On the commodities front, in electronic trading on Wednesday, oil futures for August delivery slipped 0.37%, or 35 cents, to US$ 93.82 per barrel. The gold contract for August fell too, by 40 cents, or 0.03%, to US$ 1,546.00 per ounce. Silver, platinum and copper futures were down as well on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
In corporate news, companies to watch this morning include Adobe Systems (NASDAQ:ADBE), which reported second quarter earnings after the bell yesterday, with net earnings jumping 61% and revenue growing 9% year-over-year to $ 1.02 billion.
But, its third quarter outlook was lower than expected, prompting shares to slump more than 4% in pre-market trading.
Meanwhile, FedEx Corp. (NYSE:FDX) reported strong fourth quarter results on Wednesday morning, with net earnings rising 32%. Revenue climbed 12% to $ 10.55 billion. Shares in the dellivery company climbed more than 2.5% before markets opened.
Richmond,Virginia-based used car retailer CarMax (NYSE:KMX) was also jumping before the bell by over 8% as the company beat first quarter analyst estimates. Net earnings rose 25% to 55 cents per share, topping analyst expectations of 47 cents. Revenue increased 18% to $ 2.68 billion.
US retailer Bed, Bath and Beyond (NASDAQ:BBBY) is also due to report its quarterly results after markets close today.
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