A police officer facing a "Blockupy" protester outside the new ECB headquarters in Frankfurt.
It's a Fed day. The Federal Open Market Committee on Wednesday will announce its latest policy decision. Market participants will be looking to see whether the Committee removes the word "patient" from its statement, signaling that a rate hike may be coming as early as June. The statement will be accompanied by staff projections at 2 p.m. ET, and Federal Reserve Board Chair Janet Yellen's news conference is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. ET. The US 10-year yield is off 2 basis points at 2.03%.
China's home prices fell in 66 of 70 cities. New-home prices in China fell for a sixth straight month, posting a sharp 5.7% year-over-year decline. Wednesday's reading was the worst in the four years of the current data series, with Beijing and Shanghai seeing drops of 3.6% YoY and 4.7% YoY, respectively. China's yuan strengthened 0.3% to 6.2294.
Japan's trade deficit plunged 47% from a year ago. The value of exports rose 2.4% as demand for Japanese goods increased as a result of the weaker yen. Meanwhile, the value of imports fell 3.6%, mostly because of the 54.8% decline in crude oil prices. Japan's yen is up 0.2 % at 121.15 per dollar.
UK unemployment held at 5.7%. Unemployment in the United Kingdom held at 5.7% after analysts were expecting a slip down to 5.6%, and the claimant-count change was in line at -31,000. Wage growth disappointed with a reading of up 1.8% YoY. Great Britain's pound is down 0.5% at 1.4682.
Protests outside the new ECB headquarters turn violent. "Blockupy" protests in Frankfurt have produced clashes with police and led to several vehicles' being set ablaze. The building is scheduled to open Wednesday. The euro is stronger by 0.2% at 1.0625.
Netanyahu wins the Israeli election. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defeated center-left challenger Isaac Herzog. Netanyahu now has a few weeks to form a new government.
Oracle misses revenue estimates. The company posted revenue of $9.33 billion, which was virtually flat versus a year ago but below the $9.47 billion that analysts were expecting. Earnings per share of $0.68 matched expectations. Oracle upped its divided by 25% to 15 cents per share. Notable was the increased demand for cloud software by large corporations.
FedEx posted mixed results. The company announced earnings of $2.01 per share, outpacing the $1.88 that analysts were looking for. Revenue rose 4% to $11.7 billion, slightly missing the $11.79 billion that was expected. FedEx previously guided full-year 2015 earnings of $8.50 to $9.00 per share and has updated the range to between $8.80 and $8.95.
Global stock markets are mixed. China's Shanghai Composite (+2.1%) paced the gains in Asia, while Italy's MIB (-1.3%) leads the decline in Europe.
US economic data is light. Crude oil inventories are due out at 10:30 a.m. ET.