Investing.com - Here are the top five things you need to know in financial markets on Wednesday, April 5:
1. Global stocks trade tentatively ahead of Trump-Xi meeting
U.S. stock futures pointed to a flat to lower open on Wednesday morning as investors remained cautious before the summit meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Thursday.
The blue-chip Dow futures was up six points, or around 0.03%, by 06.02 ET, the S&P 500 futures dipped 1.25 points, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures shed 3.62 points.
In Europe, stocks were broadly lower with Germany's DAX down 0.29%, but London's FTSE 100 rose 0.17% as miners were boosted by an overnight rise in copper prices.
In Asia, Chinese equities shrugged off concerns over the Trump-Xi meeting. The Shanghai Composite ended with gains of almost 1.5% after news that Beijing is to launch a new special economic zone in Hebei province.
2. Dollar struggles to make headway
The dollar struggled to make headway as demand for the safe haven yen was underpinned after North Korea fired a ballistic missile into the sea ahead of Thursday's summit between U.S. and Chinese leaders.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback's strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was little changed at 100.36.
The dollar was a touch higher against the Japanese currency, with USD/JPY edging up 0.14% to 110.90.
The euro was steady, with EUR/USD at 1.0665 as investors assessed the second presidential debate ahead of French elections.
3. ADP report, Fed minutes on tap
Payroll data provider ADP is to publish a survey of U.S. private sector hiring at 08.15 ET, which is expected to show jobs growth of 187,000 last month.
Traders will be watching to see if the health of the labor market dovetails with the Federal Reserve's assessment of the economy when the central bank publishes the minutes of its latest meeting at 14.00 ET.
4. Oil prices rally to 1-month highs
Oil prices climbed for a second day on Wednesday, touching a one month high as a decline in U.S. crude stocks lifted hopes that an OPEC-brokered output cut is reducing a global glut, while an unplanned production outage in the North Sea also lent support.
U.S. crude stockpiles fell by a larger-than-forecast 1.8 million barrels last week, the American Petroleum Institute reported on Tuesday.
Traders were turning their attention to the government's inventory data, due out at 10.30 ET to see if it would confirm the drop.
Global benchmark Brent crude rose 70 cents to $54.84 a barrel, while U.S. crude was up 61 cents at $51.64.
5. Bonds hit by some profit taking
Bonds were hit by some profit taking after yields fell in the previous sessions. Yields on two-year U.S. Treasury bonds rose to 1.26% after hitting a six-week low of 1.226% on Monday. The U.S. 10-Year Treasury yield stalled at 2.35%.