Stocks may show a lack of direction in early trading on Tuesday following the modest strength seen in the previous session. The major index futures are currently pointing to a mixed open for the markets, with the Dow futures up by 52 points and the Nasdaq futures down by 4 points.
Traders may be reluctant to make any significant moves ahead of tomorrow's monetary policy announcement by the Federal Reserve.
With the Fed widely expected to raise interest rates by a quarter point, traders are likely to keep a close eye on the accompanying statement as well as outgoing Fed Chair Janet Yellen's press conference for clues about the outlook for future rate hikes.
On the U.S. economic front, the Labor Department released a report showing a slightly bigger than expected increase in producer prices in the month of November.
The Labor Department said its producer price index for final demand climbed by 0.4 percent in November, matching the increases seen in the two previous months. Economists had expected prices to rise by 0.3 percent.
Excluding food and energy prices, the core producer price index rose by 0.3 percent in November after climbing by 0.4 percent in October. Core prices had been expected to edge up by 0.2 percent.
Following the mixed performance seen last week, stocks moved mostly higher during trading on Monday. With the upward move, the Dow and the S&P 500 reached new record closing highs.
The Dow rose 56.87 points or 0.2 percent to 24,386.03, the Nasdaq advanced 35.00 points or 0.5 percent to 6,875.08 and the S&P 500 climbed 8.49 points or 0.3 percent to 2,659.99.
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower during trading on Tuesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index dropped by 0.3 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slid by 0.6 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets have moved to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index has climbed by 0.5 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.3 percent and the German DAX Index is up by 0.2 percent.
In commodities trading, crude oil futures are rising $0.51 to $58.50 a barrel after climbing $0.63 to $57.99 a barrel on Monday. Meanwhile, after slipping $1.50 to $1,246.90 an ounce in the previous session, gold futures are dipping $1.60 to $1,245.30 an ounce.
On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 113.47 yen compared to the 113.56 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Monday. Against the euro, the dollar is valued $1.1757 compared to yesterday's $1.1769.
by RTT Staff Writer
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