U.S. index futures are down in Tuesday’s pre-market as investors await today’s data on housing, employment, and consumer confidence, anticipating tomorrow’s monetary policy announcement.
At 6:03 AM, Dow Jones futures (DOWI:DJI) dropped 56 points, or 0.15%. S&P 500 futures fell 0.12%, and Nasdaq-100 futures declined by 0.07%. The yield on 10-year Treasury notes was at 4.064%.
In the commodities market, West Texas Intermediate crude oil for March rose 0.26% to $76.98 per barrel. Brent crude for March increased by 0.02%, near $82.42 per barrel. Iron ore with a 62% concentration traded on the Dalian exchange fell 1.76% to $138.00 per metric ton.
On Tuesday’s economic agenda, investors are focused on a series of important releases. At 9 AM, two reports will be presented simultaneously: January’s consumer confidence, which provides insights into consumers’ willingness to spend, and the home price index, indicating the price trend in the real estate sector. Shortly after, at noon, the focus shifts to the job market with the release of the JOLTs job openings. Closing the day, at 4:30 PM, investors will turn their attention to the weekly oil inventories released by the API.
Asian markets mostly closed lower, affected by Hong Kong’s court decision to liquidate Evergrande, exacerbating concerns around the Chinese real estate sector. Stocks in Shanghai and Hong Kong suffered the largest losses, while Australia’s ASX 200 and Japan’s Nikkei closed positive at 0.29% and 0.11%, respectively.
European markets are advancing, attentive to the fourth-quarter GDP of the eurozone, France, and Germany, which met expectations. Simultaneously, retail inflation in the UK in January fell to its lowest level in nearly two years, driven by Christmas discounts.
In Monday’s session, the U.S. stock market overcame an uncertain opening to close higher, with investors excited. The Dow Jones and S&P 500 reached new records, while the Nasdaq hit its highest level in the last two years, driven by a drop in Treasury yields.
For Tuesday’s quarterly earnings front, financial reports are scheduled from Pfizer (NYSE:PFE), General Motors (NYSE:GM), United Parcel Service (NYSE:UPS), JetBlue (NASDAQ:JBLU), Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC), HCA Healthcare (NYSE:HCA), among others, before the market opens. After the close, numbers from Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX), Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA), Juniper Networks (NYSE:JNPR), Match Group (NASDAQ:MTCH), and more are awaited.