The major U.S. index futures on the Dow Jones, S&P and Nasdaq are currently pointing to a lower open on Tuesday, with stocks likely to give back ground following the rebound seen over the two previous sessions.
Trades may look to cash in on the recent recovery by the markets amid lingering concerns about the impact of President Donald Trump’s trade policies and the economic outlook.
Overall trading activity may be somewhat subdued, however, as traders look ahead to the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy announcement on Wednesday.
While the Fed is almost universally expected to leave interest rates unchanged, traders will look to the accompanying statement as well as officials’ latest projections for clues about the outlook for rates.
After rebounding last Friday but still posting steep weekly losses, stocks continued to regain ground during trading on Monday. The major averages all moved to the upside over the course of the session.
The major averages pulled back well off their highs going into the end of trading but remained in positive territory. The Dow jumped 353.44 points or 0.9 percent to 41,841.63, the S&P 500 climbed 36.18 points or 0.6 percent to 5,675.12 and the Nasdaq rose 54.58 points or 0.3 percent to 17,808.66.
The strength on Wall Street came as traders continued to pick up stocks at relatively reduced levels following recent weakness, which saw the S&P 500 plunge into correction territory last Thursday.
Positive sentiment was also generated in reaction to the Commerce Department’s report on U.S. retail sales in the month of February.
The Commerce Department said retail sales rose by 0.2 percent in February after tumbling by a revised 1.2 percent in January.
While the uptick by retail sales missed expectations for an increase of 0.7 percent, traders seem relieved that the data wasn’t even worse.
However, traders seemed reluctant to make more significant moves ahead of the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy announcement on Wednesday.
Gold stocks showed a strong move to the upside on the day, driving the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index up by 2.7 percent to a nearly five-month closing high. The strength among gold stocks came amid a modest increase by the price of the precious metal.
Significant strength was also visible among brokerage stocks, as reflected by the 2.5 percent jump by the NYSE Arca Broker/Dealer Index. The index continued to regain ground after ending last Thursday’s trading at its lowest closing level in over four months.
Oil producer stocks also turned in a strong performance amid an increase by the price of crude oil, with the NYSE Arca Oil Index climbing by 1.7 percent.
Commercial real estate, semiconductor and natural gas stocks also saw notable strength, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.