Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures are currently pointing to a higher open on Tuesday, with stocks likely to see further upside following the strength seen in the previous session.
Tech stocks may help to lead an early advance on Wall Street, as reflected by the 0.6 percent increase by the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures.
Traders remain optimistic ahead of the release of earnings news from big-name tech companies like Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT).
Shares of Apple are jumping by 1.6 percent in pre-market trading after surging by 3.0 percent on Monday, while Meta and Microsoft may also see further upside after moving notably higher in the previous session.
Positive sentiment may also be generated in reaction to upbeat earnings news from big-name companies like General Motors (NYSE:GM) and UPS (NYSE:UPS).
On the other hand, a slump by shares of UnitedHealth (NYSE:UNH) is likely to weigh on the Dow, with the health insurance giant plunging by 15.7 percent in pre-market trading.
The steep drop by UnitedHealth comes after the company reported slightly better than expected fourth quarter earnings but provided disappointing revenue guidance.
A Trump administration proposal calling for nearly flat rates for Medicare Advantage insurers is also likely to weigh on insurance stocks.
Following the mixed performance seen during last Friday’s session, stocks moved mostly higher during trading on Monday. With the upward move, the major averages further offset the steep drop seen last Tuesday.
The major averages moved to the downside going into the end of the day but remained in positive territory. The Dow advanced 313.69 points or 0.6 percent to 49,412.40, the Nasdaq rose 100.11 points or 0.4 percent to 23,601.36 and the S&P 500 climbed 34.62 points or 0.5 percent to 6,950.23.
The strength on Wall Street came amid strong gains by Apple, Meta Platforms and Microsoft, which moved higher ahead of the release of their quarterly results later this week.
Shares of Apple surged by 3.0 percent, shares of Meta jumped by 2.1 percent and shares of Microsoft advanced by 0.9 percent.
However, traders seemed reluctant to make more significant moves ahead of the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy announcement on Wednesday.
While the Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, traders will pay close attention to the accompanying statement for clues about the outlook for rates.
Traders also kept an eye on the latest geopolitical developments, with President Donald Trump threatening to impose a 100 percent tariff on goods from Canada over a potential free trade deal with China.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney responded by saying his country has no intention of pursuing such a deal.
The U.S. government is also facing the possibility of another shutdown, as several Democratic senators have threatened to oppose a spending bill if it includes appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security.
The impasse over DHS funding comes after federal immigration agents shot and killed another U.S. citizen in Minneapolis over the weekend.
In U.S. economic news, a report released by the Commerce Department showed new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods surged by much more than expected in the month of November.
Networking stocks turned in some of the market’s best performances on the day, with the NYSE Arca Networking Index jumping by 2.0 percent.
Notable strength was also visible among software stocks, as reflected by the 1.1 percent gain posted by the Dow Jones U.S. Software Index (DOWI:DJUSSW).
On the other hand, steel stocks showed a significant move to the downside, dragging the NYSE Arca Steel index down by 2.2 percent.
Airline stocks also saw considerable weakness on the day, resulting in a 1.5 percent loss by the NYSE Arca Airline Index.