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U.S. stock index futures slipped on Tuesday with investors consolidating recent gains and keeping a close eye on the war in Ukraine and plans for more sanctions on Russia following reports of purported atrocities in Kyiv over the weekend.
How are stock-index futures trading?
-
S&P 500 futures
ES00,
-0.16%
fell 0.3% to 4,565.50 -
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures
YM00,
-0.20%
fell 0.3%, or 88 points, to 34,742 -
Nasdaq-100 futures
NQ00,
-0.16%
fell 0.3% to 15,114
On Monday, the S&P 500
SPX,
closed 0.8% to 4,582.64 and the Dow industrials
DJIA,
climbed 103.61 points, or 0.3%, to 34,921.88. The Nasdaq Composite surged 271.05 points, or 1.9%, to 14,532.55, for the largest daily percentage gain since March 24, 2022, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
What’s driving the markets?
Following Monday’s gains, investors were waiting on a smattering of U.S. economic data and monitoring the continuing war in Ukraine.
Ukraine President Volodimir Zelensky was due to address the UN Security Council on Tuesday, following evidence of images and reports of atrocities allegedly committed by Russian soldiers around Kyiv.
As well, the U.S. Treasury has reportedly put a stop to Russia paying its debts via U.S. accounts, while the European Union is expected to announce a ban on coal imports from the country.
Both U.S.
CL00,
and benchmark European oil prices
BRN00,
were up about 1%.
“The overall environment remains hard to read as investors’ focus keeps being torn between lingering tensions with Russia, the prospect of an economic downturn brought by flattening yield curves and the sudden hawkish switch from the Fed,” said Pierre Veyret, technical analyst at ActivTrades.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note
TMUBMUSD10Y,
was almost even with that of the 2-year note
TMUBMUSD02Y,
amid recent inversion of that curve. Yield curve inversion, when that of shorter-dated notes are higher than longer-dated, are often viewed as a recession flag.
And: Dow transports selloff may be warning of something more than just a macro speed bump
Among U.S. data on tap for Tuesday, the February foreign trade deficit is due at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time, followed by the Institute for Supply Management’s services index for March at 10 a.m.
Investors will also hear from Fed Gov. Lael Brainard, San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly and New York Fed President John Williams throughout the day.
