U.S. stock futures were struggling to make headway in early Tuesday trading, leaving benchmarks just shy of multi-month highs.
How are stock-index futures trading
-
S&P 500 futures
ES00,
-0.10%
dipped 1 point, or 0% to 4280 -
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures
YM00,
-0.16%
fell 8 points, or 0% to 33611 -
Nasdaq 100 futures
NQ00,
-0.03%
rose 10 points, or 0.1% to 14599
On Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
fell 200 points, or 0.59%, to 33563, the S&P 500
SPX,
declined 9 points, or 0.2%, to 4274, and the Nasdaq Composite
COMP,
dropped 11 points, or 0.09%, to 13229.
What’s driving markets
Markets displayed a cautious tone early Tuesday after Wall Street’s latest advance to fresh highs for the year faltered late in the previous session.
“After popping through 4300, briefly taking it into the technical bull-market territory, the S&P 500 rally train was slightly derailed when U.S. stocks turned lower after a weaker-than-expected ISM Services survey and slightly uncertain investor take of a much-anticipated product launch from tech giant Apple,” said Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management.
Apple’s shares
AAPL,
on Monday hit a record intraday high near $185 before finishing lower on the day at sub $180 after the contents of its Worldwide Developers’ Conference could not match the hype.
With Apple’s shares commanding a 7.5% weighting in the S&P 500, the reversal left Wall Street’s index benchmark just below its best levels since August. Apple’s stock is showing another 0.3% dip in Tuesday’s premarket action.
There’s a dearth of fresh catalysts for traders to feed off on Tuesday, with no economic data or company results of note due for publication, and no Fedspeak ahead of the central bank’s policy meeting starting next Tuesday.
Still, investors appear relaxed about the prospects for Fed policy, with the chances of no interest rate rise next week priced at 80%.
Given that rate hikes have tended to hit investor confidence over the past year, the idea of a pause may help explain why the CBOE Vix index, an option-based gauge of expected S&P 500 volatility, sits at 14.72, notably below its long-run average of 20 and flirting with its lowest levels in three years.
But there was a reminder from Australia that central banks can still spring monetary surprises. The Reserve Bank of Australia on Tuesday delivered its second unexpected 25 basis point rate hike in a row, taking its main borrowing costs to 4.1% and triggering a jump in the Aussie dollar and a slide in bonds and stocks.
