10 things you need to know before the opening bell
It's a Fed day. The Federal Open Market Committee is expected to keep policy on hold at Wednesday's meeting as Bloomberg's World Interest Rate Probability shows just a 14.5% chance the Fed hikes its key rate 25 basis points. The decision will cross the wires at 2 p.m. ET.
China's manufacturing sector continues to grow. China's manufacturing PMI slipped to 51.3 in January but remained comfortably above the 50.0 expansion/contraction line. New export orders climbed to 50.3, hitting their best level in more than a year.
Brazil's unemployment is at a record high. The country's unemployment rate hit a record high 12% in the fourth quarter of 2016, data released on Tuesday by the Brazilian Institute for Geography and Statistics showed.
Chinese agents abducted one of China's richest men from a Hong Kong hotel. Xiao Jianhua was abducted by "five or six plain-clothed Chinese public security agents" at his apartment in Hong Kong's Four Seasons hotel at 1 a.m. on the night before Chinese New Year, according to the Financial Times.
Apple's revenue forecast misses. The tech giant earned $3.36 per share on revenue of $78.4 billion, both ahead of estimates. However, its revenue forecast was light, coming in at $51.5 billion to $53.5 billion, versus the Wall Street estimate of $53.8 billion.
Deutsche Bank is working on a new bonus system for its top executives. Details of the new system remain sketchy, but the plan is said to be less complicated and more transparent, Reuters reports, citing German newspaper Handelsblatt.
Short sellers are piling into Tesla. Short interest in Tesla has surged to more than 35% of the float, or shares available to the public, as the stock has rallied nearly 20% so far this year.
Stock markets around the world are up. Australia's ASX (+0.6%) led the way up overnight and France's CAC (+1.2%) is out front in Europe. The S&P 500 is set to open higher by 0.4% near 2,284.
Earnings reporting remains heavy. Altria and Anthem are among the companies reporting ahead of the opening bell while Facebook and MetLife highlight the names releasing their quarterly results after markets close.
US economic data is moderate. ADP Employment Change will be released at 8:15 a.m. ET before Markit manufacturing PMI and ISM manufacturing cross the wires at 9:45 a.m. ET and 10 a.m. ET, respectively. The US 10-year yield is higher by 2 basis points at 2.47%.