The U.S. Dollar Index is trading at 96.72  up with +0.01% percent or +0.01 point. The Dow Futures is trading at 26,864.50 up with +0.25% percent or +67.50 point. The S&P 500 Futures is trading at 2,987.38  up with +0.26% percent or +7.88 point.  The Nasdaq Futures is trading at 7,868.12 up  with  +0.38% percent or +29.87 point.

TODAY’S FACTORS AND EVENTS

The dollar struggled for traction on Wednesday as fading hopes for any near-term Sino-U.S. trade deal revived safe-haven demand and drove U.S. bond yields to their lowest levels since late 2016.

U.S. yields also tracked a decline in their British counterparts to 2-1/2-year lows on dovish-sounding comments from Bank of England Governor Mark Carney, which in turn weighed on the pound.

PREVIOUS DAY ACTIVITY

For the day the Dow is trading at 26,786.68 up with +0.26% percent or +69.25 point. The S&P 500 is trading at 2,973.01 up with +0.29% percent or +8.68 point. The Nasdaq Composite is trading at 8,109.09  up with +0.22% percent or +17.93 point.

WORLD MARKETS

Other leading market index closes included the small-cap Russell 2000 Index closed at 1,560.54 with a loss of -0.58% percent or -9.13 point; the S&P 600 Small-Cap Index closed at 948.46  with a loss of -0.67% percent or -6.37  point; the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index closed at 1,946.19 with a loss of -0.32% percent or -6.19 point; the S&P 100 Index closed at 1,313.63 up with +0.43% percent or +5.68 point; the Russell 3000 Index closed at 1,747.09  up with +0.21% percent or +3.59 point; the Russell 1000 Index closed at 1,645.82  up with +0.26% or +4.31 point.