The major U.S. index futures are currently pointing to a lower open on Tuesday, with stocks likely to move back to the downside following the rebound seen in the previous session.
The downward momentum on Wall Street comes amid concerns about escalating tensions between the U.S. and Russia.
After President Joe Biden gave Ukraine permission to attack Russian territory using U.S.-made long-range missiles, Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree amending the country’s nuclear doctrine.
Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the updated doctrine says Russia “reserves the right to use nuclear weapons in the event of aggression with the use of conventional weapons against it or the Republic of Belarus, which creates a critical threat to sovereignty or territorial integrity.”
“Aggression against the Russian Federation by any non-nuclear state with the participation or support of a nuclear state is considered a joint attack,” Peskov added, according to NBC News.
Shortly before the Kremlin updated its nuclear weapons doctrine, Ukraine reportedly used U.S.-made long-range missiles to attack a Russian military facility in the Bryansk border region.
Following the sell-off seen during last Friday’s session, stocks moved back to the upside during trading on Monday. The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 regained ground, although the narrower Dow ended the day modestly lower.
While the Nasdaq climbed 111.69 points or 0.6 percent to 18,791.81 and the S&P 500 rose 23.00 points or 0.4 percent to 5,893.62, the Dow edged down 55.39 points or 0.1 percent to 43,389.60.
The rebound on Wall Street may partly have reflected bargain hunting, as traders looked to pick up stocks at somewhat subdued levels following the steep drop seen last week.
The major averages pulled back well off their record highs last week amid concerns about the outlook for interest rates along with worries about the impact of President-elect Donald Trump’s proposed policies and cabinet nominees.
Buying interest was somewhat subdued, however, as traders looked ahead to the release of quarterly results from AI darling Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA).
Nvidia, which has recently been a driver of the markets, is scheduled to release its fiscal third quarter results after the close of trading on Wednesday.
In U.S. economic news, the National Association of Home Builders released a report showing homebuilder confidence has improved by much more than anticipated in the month of November.
The report said the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index climbed to 46 in November after rising to 43 in October. Economists had expected the index to inch up to 44.
With the much bigger than expected increase, the housing market index reached its highest level since hitting 51 in April.
Gold stocks moved sharply higher on the day, resulting in a 4.2 percent spike by the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index. The rally by gold stocks came amid a substantial increase by the price of the precious metal.
Considerable strength was also visible among computer hardware stocks, as reflected by the 2.8 percent surge by the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index.
Super Micro Computer (NASDAQ:SMCI) led the sector higher after a report from Barron’s said the company is expected to file a plan to avoid being delisted from the Nasdaq.
Natural gas, steel and oil stocks also saw significant strength, while airline stocks showed a notable move to the downside.