What you need to know before the US open
US stocks have inched down ahead of Janet Yellen’s testimony to Congress this afternoon.
Investors will be listening in carefully, looking for indications on how the Fed’s interpreting April’s economic data.
Yellen’s expected to stick to the dovish rhetoric we’ve been hearing when it comes to policy, but more information will be wanted when it comes to when she thinks the Fed will raise interest rates.
This afternoon, numbers have shown that productivity dwindled in the first quarter, with employee output falling 1.7 per cent. This was expected, following the harsh winter the US saw, which stopped people getting into work.
Corporate news
Siemens has unveiled the new restructuring strategy it’ll be implementing, as it reports profits lower than consensus because of energy charges. It won’t, it says, be pushed into a bidding war with GE over Alstom.
Candy Crush Saga maker King Digital have reported monthly users up to almost 500m in the first quarter – an 18 per cent increase from the end of 2013.
Mondalez, the snack firm, and DE Master Blenders, the tea and coffee specialist, have announced they’re combining their coffee businesses. Mondalez will get around $5bn and a 49 per cent stake in the new business, which’ll be controlled by DE Master Blenders.
And Devon Energy has posted a quarterly profit of $324m, compared to the $1.3bn loss it saw a year earlier.
Data in focus
• 3.00pm: US Fed’s Yellen speech
• 8.00pm: US March consumer credit change