US stocks indexes were expected to open lower on Wednesday as a deal to increase the country’s debt ceiling headed for a crucial vote by lawmakers and another round of earnings underscored the impact that higher prices are having on corporate America.

On Tuesday, a bill raising the $31.4 trillion debt ceiling for the United States while enacting further expenditure cutbacks made its way to the House of Representatives for discussion. A vote on passage is expected later on Wednesday.

A June 5 deadline looms, so if the bill passes the House, it will move to the Senate for more discussion.

Joe Saluzzi, co-manager of trading at Themis Trading, said: “All indications point to the merger being completed, although there are reports about some Congress individuals who are against it. There will be some trepidation up until that agreement is terminated.

The debt ceiling discussion has been a cloud over the financial markets, but encouraging indicators have helped the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq indexes post gains for the month of May. With a 6.5% increase, the Nasdaq was on course to have its best May since 2020.

Investors are now anticipating the eagerly anticipated May jobs report from the Labour Department, due on Friday. This report could demonstrate the economy’s robustness to rising interest rates and inflation.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 99 points, or 0.3%, the S&P 500 was down 18.5 points, or 0.44%, and the Nasdaq 100 was down 67 points, or 0.47%, as of 8:34 a.m. ET.

The president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, Loretta Mester, said she does not see any “compelling” reasons to stop raising interest rates overnight.

Traders are pricing in a 61% chance of a 25-basis point increase at the Fed’s June 13-14 meeting. [FEDWATCH]

Chicago purchasing managers’ index (PMI) data is due later in the day, as is April’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS).

After cutting its full-year expectations, Advance Auto Parts (NYSE:AAP) Inc fell 28.8% premarket.

Following a quarterly sales miss due to lower-than-anticipated consumer spending due to inflation, HP Inc (NYSE:HPQ) saw a 5.6% decline.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) Co. stock fell 8.7% due to the company’s failure to meet second-quarter revenue expectations.

The shares of Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) Corp. dropped 1.8% the day after reaching a record high and temporarily joined the select group of American businesses with a market worth of $1 trillion.

Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) Inc., Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MU), and Intel Corp. (NASDAQ:INTC) were among the other chipmakers to experience losses ranging from 0.9% to 3.8%.

Separately, Ambarella (NASDAQ:AMBA) Inc., a manufacturer of chips, fell 18.5% after predicting second-quarter revenue below expectations.

American Airlines (NASDAQ:AAL) Group Inc. gained 2.1% after increasing its earnings forecast for the second quarter.