More China friction; Amazon meeting; Fed minutes

Hikvision stock plummeted the daily limit of 10% during early morning trading in Shenzhen. It recovered some of those losses to close about 6% lower.

The drop came after the New York Times reported that the United States is considering adding the company to a trade blacklist, alongside smartphone and 5G giant Huawei.

The move would be Washington's latest attempt to curb Beijing's tech ambitions, and a further escalation of the US-China trade war as talks have stalled.

Hikvision manufactures surveillance cameras and security products powered by artificial intelligence. It's faced international criticism for surveillance operations in Tibet and Xinjiang. US lawmakers last year urged sanctions against the company and accused it of helping China create a "high-tech police state."

Meanwhile, China's big airlines are seeking compensation from Boeing (BA) over the Max 737 grounding.

2. Amazon meeting: Amazon's annual shareholder meeting kicks off in Seattle at 12 p.m. ET on Wednesday. This year's proxy statement is a doozy, with 12 shareholder proposals on everything from food waste to hate speech.

Two proposals deal with Amazon's facial recognition technology, Rekognition. One calls for a study of the effects of its use by government agencies. Another goes further, requesting a moratorium on sales of the technology to governments.

Environmental concerns are on the agenda, too. A proposal supported by thousands of the company's own employees would require the company to report what it's doing to address and prepare for climate change.

Want more markets? Watch CNN's "Markets Now" digital live show Wednesday at 12:45 p.m. ET.

3. Fed minutes: The Federal Reserve will release minutes from its meeting on April 30 and May 1 on Wednesday at 2 p.m. ET.

At the meeting, central bankers led by Chair Jerome Powell left the Fed's key benchmark rate unchanged, sticking with the wait-and-see approach outlined earlier this year amid uncertainty about where the US economy is headed.

Investors will scrutinize the minutes for signs of the Fed's commitment to the status quo. The meeting took place before new rounds of tit-for-tat tariffs reignited the trade war between the United States and China, threatening global economic growth.

Before the Bell newsletter: Key market news. In your inbox. Subscribe now!

4. Global market overview: US stock futures point lower with trade tensions front of mind once again. The Dow is set to drop 40 points, or 0.2%, when US markets open. The Nasdaq is off 0.3%, and the S&P 500 is poised to dip 0.2%.

European markets opened mixed. Stocks were flat in Germany but dropped 0.2% in France. Britain's FTSE 100 index is up 0.4%, with multinational companies like BP (BP) standing to gain from a weaker pound.

Sterling dropped 0.3% lower to $1.266 on Wednesday as Prime Minister Theresa May's final bid to get a Brexit deal through the UK parliament appears dead on arrival. That could increase the odds of a messy exit from the European Union.

Stocks in Asia were also mixed, with the Shanghai Composite index falling 0.5% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rising 0.1%. Japan's Nikkei also edged up.

The Dow closed up 0.8% on Tuesday as tech stocks rebounded. The S&P 500 jumped 0.9%, and the Nasdaq rose 1.1%.

5. Coming this week:
Wednesday — Fed minutes; Amazon annual meeting; Target (TGT), Lowe's and L Brands earnings
Thursday — Indian election results; Deutsche Bank (DB) annual meeting; US new home sales; Best Buy (BBY), Ross Stores (ROST) and HP earnings
Friday — US durable goods orders; Foot Locker (FL) earnings

Let's block ads! (Why?)