Bank earnings, trade deal signing and inflation data: 3 things to watch for on Wednesday
Here's what you need to know about Wednesday before you hit the door.
Bank earnings
Earnings season continues on Wednesday as Bank of America and Goldman Sachs are slated to release results before the bell. J.P. Morgan and Citigroup already reported strong results on Tuesday.
Bank of America will report earnings per share of 69 cents, according to an estimate from RBC Capital Markets, a slight increase from the 68 cents reported for the same quarter a year ago. Goldman will report $5.24 in earnings per share, an 8.4% increase year over year, RBC estimated.
J.P. Morgan's big quarter was driven largely by trading revenue in fixed income, which could bode well for Goldman. RBC said in a note to clients that it expects Goldman to generate $1.2 billion in fixed income trading revenue for the quarter, a 45.8% increase from the year before.
Trade deal signing
Representatives from the U.S. and China are expected to sign the phase one agreement of a trade deal on Wednesday, about a month after the countries agreed to the deal in principle.
The deal is expected to include a commitment by China to buy about $200 billion of U.S. goods over two years, including roughly $80 billion of manufactured goods.
Stocks fell in intraday trading on Tuesday following a report from Bloomberg News that the U.S. would not move to change existing tariffs for at least 10 months. CNBC's Kayla Tausche reported that the countries had not agreed upon a path forward for tariffs, citing an administration source.
The United States announced Monday that it would no longer label China a currency manipulator.
Inflation data
The Bureau of Labor Statistics will release its producer price index for December before the market opens on Wednesday.
The PPI measures the change in prices of goods and services from the perspective of the producer. The consumer price index, which measures the price changes of a slightly different selection of goods and services from the consumer perspective, rose 0.2% last month.
Economists surveyed by Dow Jones expect an increase of 0.2% for December. In November, both the main PPI and the core PPI, which strips out more volatile items such as energy costs, were flat for the month.
Major events (all times Eastern)
8:30 a.m. Producer Price Index
8:30 a.m. New York Empire State Fed Survey
11:00 a.m. Philadelphia Fed President speaks
2:00 p.m. Federal Reserve Beige Book