10 things you need to know before the opening bell
The 2016 presidential frontrunners are closer to their respective nominations. On the Republican side, Donald Trump extended his delegate lead with a victory in Arizona, while Sen. Ted Cruz claimed victories in Idaho and Utah. Trump won 70 delegates to Cruz's 60. Democratic challenger Sen. Bernie Sanders secured 57 delegates with wins in Idaho and Utah, while the frontrunner, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, won Arizona and totaled 51 delegates.
A couple of Asian central banks kept policy on hold. The Bank of Thailand held its key interest rate at 1.50%, as expected. In its statement, the central bank suggested that its currency, the baht, was too strong and that it has "tools and are ready to take care of the baht if it fluctuates too much or doesn't trade in line with economic fundamentals." Elsewhere, the Philippines' central bank kept its benchmark interest rate at 4.00%, as expected. In its statement, the bank noted a "manageable inflation outlook and robust growth conditions."
Brexit has taken the lead in the polls. A poll from ICM shows 43% of Brits are in favor of a British exit from the European Union while just 41% oppose. The possibility of the UK leaving the EU has been speculated to be the reason the British pound sank to a seven-year low in February. While the pound has come off its worst levels in recent trade, Wednesday's poll has caused some jitters with the currency down 0.2% at 1.4180.
It sounds as if Saudi Arabia will freeze its oil production in April. The Financial Times reports that Saudi Arabia is set to join the oil production freeze at next month's meeting in Doha, Qatar. According to the FT, a Saudi senior OPEC delegate said: "There is agreement from many countries to go along with a freeze. Why make it contingent on Iran?" Crude oil is trading lower by 1% at $41.03 a barrel.
Nike gave a disappointing forecast. The athletic shoe giant announced adjusted earnings of $0.55 per share, topping the $0.49 that Wall Street was expecting. Revenue rose 7.7% to $8 billion, which was a bit light compared to the $8.20 billion Bloomberg consensus. Nike said it expects high-single-digit sales growth and earnings to grow in the low teens. Both of these were shy of the approximate 10% and 15% growth that analysts were anticipating. Shares of Nike are down more than 5% in pre-market trade.
Credit Suisse is speeding up its restructuring plan. The investment bank says it will eliminate 2,000 additional jobs in its global markets business. The job cuts are on top of the 4,000 that were set to take place as part of the restructuring plan announced earlier this year. Credit Suisse says the restructuring will save 800 million Swiss francs ($820 million) per year. According to the bank's CEO, Tidjane Thiam, the cuts come during "challenging" market conditions and will make the bank more "resilient."
Oracle is suing HP Enterprise. In November 2015, HP split into two companies, HP Enterprise and HP Inc. Just six months into its existence, HP Enterprise is being sued by rival Oracle for allegedly partnering "with a third-party software support called TERiX Computer Company to offer enterprises support for Oracle's Solaris operating system, including things like software patches, updates, and bug fixes," according to Business Insider UK's James Cook. Oracle makes the lion's share of its money selling this type of support and has won some similar suits against companies trying to undercut them in the past.
Global markets are mixed. Germany's DAX (+1.1%) leads the way in Europe after Australia's ASX (-0.5%) lagged overnight. S&P 500 futures are little changed at 2042.25.
Earnings reports continue to trickle out. General Mills highlights the names reporting ahead of the opening bell while KB Home and PVH are among the companies releasing their quarterly results after markets close.
US economic data remains slow. New home sales will be announced at 10 a.m. ET and crude oil inventories will be released at 10:30 a.m. ET. The US 10-year yield is unchanged at 1.94%.