US stock futures were broadly flat on Wednesday morning, after a surprise drop in Chinese exports and economic headwinds flagged by the OECD stoked fresh concerns about global growth.
Contracts on the S&P 500 (^GSPC) ticked up 0.03%. Those on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) and on the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) were lower, down 0.06% and 0.05% respectively.
Official trade data released Wednesday added to the concerns around the post-pandemic recovery in the world's second-biggest economy, which have weighed on global markets. China’s exports slumped 7.5% from a year ago in May, compared with economists' expectations for a 0.4% decline.
“Weaker global trade is not a new story, but it is surprising how quickly China's reopening boost has faded, with backlogs of work supporting export numbers until now even as other countries have continued to see demand for their goods wane,” Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda, wrote in note Wednesday.
“With China's reopening boom flagging so quickly, pressure is set to intensify on the leadership to announce new stimulus measures in a bid to revitalize the economy again,” the analyst added.
While the OECD lifted its global 2023 growth forecast slightly to 2.7% in its latest economic outlook Wednesday, the group identified potential drags on future recovery, as inflation persists and interest-rate hikes weigh.
Meanwhile, investors are closely monitoring whether the S&P 500 will enter a new bull market.
Treasury yields crept lower after the US Treasury said it plans to boost the size of its coming bill sales, which put pressure on short-dated bonds. The yield on the two-year yield fell to 4.5%, while that on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury note dropped to 3.68%.
Elsewhere, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s stepped-up crackdown remained in focus for investors, after the regulator brought lawsuits against top cryptocurrency exchanges Coinbase (COIN) and Binance. Bitcoin’s price (BTC-USD) was trading below $27,000 early Wednesday.
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In single stock moves, shares of Tesla, Inc. (TSLA) climbed more than 2% following the news that the Environmental Protection Agency would exclude EV makers from the Renewable Fuels Standard, Reuters reported. NovoCure Limited (NVCR) shares rallied more than 4% amid a debate over its "profound" impact in lung cancer treatment.
United Natural Foods Inc. (UNFI) shares tumbled more than 24% after the grocery wholesaler posted third-quarter profit that came in short of expectations, while cutting its full-year outlook.
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Dani Romero is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @daniromerotv
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This data comes from MediaIntel.Asia's Media Intelligence and Media Monitoring Platform.