It is a Fed day with an announcement @ 2:00pm ET followed by a press conference @ 2:30pm ET.  Expect markets to go into Fed wait mode in late morning until the announcement.  No significant changes are expected in rates and the Fed’s relaxed stance on inflation.

Cloud storage and computing company Snowflake will IPO today as SNOW.  The company expects 28 million shares to sell @ $120 which values the company at $33.3B.  Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) and Salesforce (CRM) have purchased millions of Snowflake shares.

Facebook (FB) is down premarket after the FTC said they are readying an antitrust case against the social media giant.  The FTC has been working on a broad investigation into the largest internet companies and FB’s antitrust case may be the first of several to come.

President Trump said his staff is close to deciding whether Oracle’s proposed alliance with China’s ByteDance will be approved.  The deal allows ByteDance to keep majority ownership in their TikTok app while Oracle becomes their US technology partner.  TitkTok’s global business would become a US based company while remaining a unit of ByteDance.

FedEx (FDX) is up over 9.5% premarket after adjusted earnings per share 80% higher than expectations ($4.87/share vs $2.70/share expected).  Revenue is up 14% to $19.2B, almost $2B above expectations.  The pandemic stay-at-home and work-from-home trends have accelerated Fedex’s growth.

The economic calendar focus is Retail Sales @ 8:30am ET and Oil @ 10:30am ET.

Volatility continues to shrink but remains elevated.  The Fed announcement and press conference could add some volatility after 2pm ET.

Size bias is long into the 8:30am ET Retail numbers on lighter than recent Globex volume.

A Fed rate course reversal???  St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said yesterday that a “darkened” global trade narrative could slow the growth of the US economy, followed by a “downward policy rate adjustment may be warranted soon.”  The bulls sent US stocks up into yesterday’s cash close.

Markets will be watching Fed speak closely this morning: John Williams @ 8:30am EST and Chair Jerome Powell @ 9:55am EST.  CME futures predict a 50% chance of a rate cut in July with 2 more before 2020.  That would be quite a reversal in Fed policy…

FAANG companies are in US lawmakers’ crosshairs.  A House Judiciary committee announced a top-to-bottom review of US tech companies and the DOJ and FTC announced they would tackle large monopolistic companies such as Alphabet, Apple, Amazon, and Facebook.

Dem David Cicilline of RI said “The growth of monopoly power across our economy is one of the most pressing economic and political challenges we face today…  market power in digital markets presents a whole new set of dangers.”

In the same vein, Apple announced they will be killing iTunes and instead split music, podcasts, and TV into separate apps.  Earnings today include CRM, AMBA, GWRE, CBRL, GME, TIF, LE, HQY, and NAV.

The economic calendar is light with Factory Orders and Constructions Spending @ 10:00am EST.  Volatility continues to tick up and if Powell hints at decreasing rates, the ES could move today.  Size bias is a divergent short into Bullard’s 8:30am talk.

US and global stock markets are a little rattled by Trump comments concerning a scheduled June 12 Singapore meeting with North Korea and US trade war progress with China.  The US and South Korea held a joint military exercise last week and now Trump is saying there’s a good chance the North Korean meeting will not take place on June 12, but still a good chance it will at some point in the future.  About the trade negotiations with China, Trump said it’s “a start” but he was “not pleased” with the progress.  US retailers Target and Lowes missed earnings estimates while jeweler Tiffany & Co. crushed their expectations.  The economic calendar focus is Oil @ 10:30am and Fed minutes @ 2:00pm EST.  Before the main events, we have PMI Composite Flash @ 9:45am EST and New Home Sales @ 10:00am EST.  The ES has pulled back enough where upside volatility should not be hindered as we’ve experienced over the last week.  Volatility continues to contract, but there’s more room to expand now.  Size bias is short on increased Globex volume into the US session open.