The major U.S. index futures are currently pointing to a roughly flat open on Tuesday, with stocks likely to show a lack of direction following the modest pullback seen in the previous session.
Uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the markets may lead to choppy trading on Wall Street following last week’s advance by the Dow and S&P 500 to new record highs.
Traders may also stick to the sidelines ahead of the release of some key economic data later this week, including a closely watched inflation reading.
The Commerce Department’s report on personal income and spending, which is scheduled to be released on Thursday, includes a reading on consumer price inflation said to be preferred by the Federal Reserve.
The inflation data could have a notable impact on the outlook for interest rates, as Fed officials have said they need greater confidence inflation is slowing before cutting rates.
U.S. stocks ended on a negative note on Monday, and the major averages turned weak after a slightly positive start, as investors largely stayed cautious ahead of some key economic data.
Among the major averages, the Dow ended lower by 62.30 points or 0.2 percent at 39,069.23. The S&P 500 settled with a loss of 19.27 points or 0.4 percent at 5,069.53. The Nasdaq, which spent much of the day’s session in positive territory despite a choppy ride, ended down 20.57 points or 0.1 percent at 15,976.25.
In economic news, data released by the Commerce Department showed new home sales climbed 1.5 percent to an annual rate of 661,000 in January after surging by 7.3 percent to a revised rate of 651,000 in December.
With the increase, new home sales continued to regain ground after hitting their lowest level in a year in November. Economists had expected new home sales to jump by 2.4 percent to a rate of 680,000 in January from the 664,000 originally reported for the previous month.
Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) shares climbed more than 7 percent. Dominos Pizza (LSE:DOM) surged nearly 6 percent after reporting stronger than expected quarterly earnings.
Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU), Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT), Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN), Salesforce.com (NYSE:CRM) and Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) gained 2 to 4 percent.
Walmart (NYSE:WMT), Marathon Petroleum (NYSE:MPC), Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO), Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) and Costco (NASDAQ:COST) also posted strong gains.
Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.A) lost nearly 2 percent, despite the group posted an annual profit of $97 billion, its second straight record annual profit.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG), Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA), Whirlpool (NYSE:WHR), Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA), Verizon (NYSE:VZ) and Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) also ended sharply lower.