10 things you need to know before the opening bell
Most Fed officials support a move towards unwinding the Fed's balance sheet. Wednesday's release of the July FOMC minutes showed most Fed officials support a move towards unwinding the Fed's $4.5 trillion balance sheet at "an upcoming meeting."
Trump disbands his 2 business councils. Trump tweeted he was disbanding the Strategic and Policy Forum and a separate manufacturing council after a mass exodus of executives.
Euro area inflation holds. Inflation in the euro area held at 1.3% year-over-year in July, according to data released by Eurostat.
The US government files a $400 billion Libor claim. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation's $400 billion suit, filed on behalf of 39 banks rescued during the financial crisis, alleges banks including Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland kept Libor rates artificially low, contributing to a number of bank failures during the financial crisis.
Bitcoin is back near record highs. The cryptocurrency trades up 0.89% at $4,446 a coin, just below its all-time high.
Amazon borrows money more cheaply than a lot of countries. On Tuesday, the e-commerce giant priced its $16 billion bond offering to fund its Whole Foods deal, selling $3.5 billion of 10-year notes at a yield of about 3.2%, below China, Mexico, and Russia.
Cisco's revenue guidance misses. The company beat on the top and bottom lines, but said it expects revenue to decline by 1% to 3% to about $11.8 billion for Q1 2018, missing the Wall Street estimate of $12.6 billion.
Stock markets around the world are lower. Australia's ASX (+0.57%) lagged overnight and Britain's FTSE (+0.30%) trails in Europe. The S&P 500 is on track to open lower by 0.13% near 2,465.
Earnings reports flow. Walmart reports ahead of the opening bell while Gap and Ross Stores announce their quarterly results after markets close.
US economic data is heavy. Initial claims and the Philly Fed will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET before industrial production and capacity utilization cross the wires at 9:15 a.m. ET. The US 10-year yield is up 1 basis point at 2.23%.