Wall Street's retreat from recent records continued Wednesday as markets took in more bank earnings reports while waiting for the latest data on inflation and the housing market.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2% before the bell, while S&P 500 futures dropped 0.3%. Nasdaq futures were off 0.5%.
Wells Fargo dipped 1.7% after the San Francisco bank's fourth-quarter revenue fell short of Wall Street forecasts and its profit was trimmed
by severance payouts. Bank of America inched up less than 1% after its profit and revenue came in ahead of expectations.
Huntington Ingalls Industries jumped 3% overnight after the shipbuilder announced a contract with the U.S. Department of Defense for up to $151 billion.
Later Wednesday, the government is due to report on inflation at the wholesale level. Tuesday's update on consumer inflation came in close to economists’ forecasts, strengthening expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut its main interest rate at least twice in 2026 to shore up the job market.
Another report later Wednesday from the National Association of Realtors will offer data on existing home sales in December.
Also late Tuesday, President Donald Trump announced he would impose a 25% tax on imports to the United States from countries that do business with Iran as the death toll from the latest protests there exceeded 2,500 as of Wednesday, according to activists.
The sanctions could hurt the Islamic Republic by reducing its access to foreign goods and driving up prices, which would likely inflame tensions in a country where inflation is running above 40%. But the tariffs could also raise the prices Americans pay for imports from Iranian trade partners.
Elsewhere, at midday in Europe France's CAC 40 was unchanged, while the German DAX slid 0.3%. Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.3%.
In Asian trading, Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 surged 1.5% to finish at 54,341.23 as expectations grew that Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi may call general elections soon.
Takaichi met Tuesday with her South Korean counterpart, President Lee Jae Myung and they committed to working together on economic and security issues. South Korea's Kospi rose 0.7% to 4,723.10.
Chinese markets rallied but then fell back. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.6% to 26,999.81, while the Shanghai Composite shed 0.3% to 4,126.09.
China's trade surplus surged 20% in 2025 from a year earlier to a record $1.2 trillion, despite Trump's onslaught of higher tariffs on imports.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 0.1% to 8,820.60, while Taiwan's Taiex jumped 0.8%. In India, the Sensex lost 0.5%.
In energy markets early Wednesday, benchmark U.S. crude picked up 36 cents to $61.51 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, gained 44 cents to $65.91 a barrel.
