The major U.S. index futures are currently pointing to a modestly lower open on Wednesday, with stocks likely to give back ground following the upward seen in the previous session.
Profit taking may contribute to initial weakness on Wall Street, as some traders look to cash in on the recent strength in the markets.
Following the rally seen last Friday, stocks have seen further upside to start the week, with the Dow and the S&P 500 reaching new record highs.
Overall trading activity may be somewhat subdued, however, as traders continue to await the next catalyst for the markets following the Federal Reserve’s interest rate cut last week.
In the coming days, trading may be impacted by reaction to reports on weekly jobless claims, durable goods orders and personal income and spending.
U.S. stocks closed higher on Tuesday after a somewhat choppy ride, and the S&P 500 hit a fresh record high, as investors made largely cautious moves while awaiting more data for directional cues.
The Dow, which kept moving in and out of positive territory, ended with a gain of 83.57 points or 0.2 percent at 42,208.22, after hitting a fresh record intraday high of 42,208.22.
The S&P 500 closed up 14.36 points or 0.3 percent at 5,732.93, slightly off the all-time high of 5,735.32, and the Nasdaq climbed 100.25 points or 0.6 percent to 18,074.52.
Nvidia Corporation shares climbed about 4 percent. Caterpillar also gained about 4 percent, and Uber Technologies ended up 3.7 percent.
Tesla, Home Depot, Netflix, Salesforce, AMD, Comcast Corporation and Nike gained 1 to 3 percent.
Visa Inc. shares declined sharply after U.S. Department of Justice filed an antitrust lawsuit against the payment company alleging that some of its debit card practices are anticompetitive.
Starbucks, Citigroup, Amgen, Wells Fargo, Abott Laboratories, PepsiCo, Bank of America, Costco, Mastercard and Microsoft Corporation closed notably lower.
On the economic front, consumer confidence in the U.S. has seen a notable deterioration in the month of September, according to a report released by the Conference Board on Tuesday.
The Conference Board said it consumer confidence index tumbled to 98.7 in September from an upwardly revised 105.6 in August. Economists had expected the index to edge down to 103.0 from the 103.3 originally reported for the previous month.
The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller 20-city home price index in the U.S. rose by 5.9 percent from the previous year in July of 2024, slowing from the 6.5 percent increase during the previous month.