U.S. stock futures showed little change early Tuesday, as investors waited for President Donald Trump’s decision on a key nuclear deal with Iran.
The market is also digesting fresh rounds of earnings reports and economic data.
What are the main benchmarks doing?
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures shed 21 points, or 0.1%, to 24,280, while S&P 500 futures lost 3.50 points, or 0.1%, to 2,666.50. Nasdaq-100 futures edged down 8 points, or 0.1%, to 6,818.
On Monday, the Dow , S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite finished with gains, but off their intraday highs, after Trump tweeted that his decision on the Iran pact will come at 2 p.m. Eastern Time Tuesday.
The Dow is down 1.5% for the year, the S&P is roughly flat, and the tech-laden Nasdaq Composite has gained 5.2%.
What are strategists saying?
“It seems as though President Trump will once more be a key factor in driving near-term market sentiment,” said Richard Perry a Hantec Markets analyst, in a note.
“This is certainly a decision that could threatens stability in the Middle East, and if the U.S. refused to waiver sanctions, it could increase tensions with trade partners and potential adversaries (such as China and Russia). Primarily this is playing out through the oil price which has increased to three-and-a-half-year highs on the prospect of a hit to Iranian oil supplies.”
What’s driving markets?
Traders are watching for Trump’s decision because abandoning the Iran deal would trigger a reimposition of economic sanctions on the Middle Eastern country. That could cut into global supplies for oil, providing support for crude prices and sparking moves for energy stocks .
Oil futures continued to drop on Tuesday, on the heels of a late-session selloff in the U.S. Earlier in Monday’s session, prices rose to levels not seen since late 2014 as investors bet that Trump would withdraw the U.S. from the Iran agreement.
A Federal Reserve meeting, a monthly jobs report and the bulk of the earnings season are now in the rearview mirror, so U.S. equity investors are turning their focus back to news on global trade. New data out of China showed the country’s trade surplus with the U.S. widened in April, amid rising trade tensions between the world’s two biggest economies.
What economic news is hitting?
On the Federal Reserve front, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said early Tuesday at an event in Switzerland that emerging-market economies should be able to manage as advanced economies move toward tighter monetary policy.
Check out: MarketWatch’s Economic Calendar
An April report on small-business sentiment is slated to hit at 6 a.m. Eastern Time.
At 10 a.m. Eastern, investors are due to get a March reading on job openings.
Which stocks are in focus?
U.S.-listed shares in Shire PLC rose 0.6% in thin premarket trading after Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. reached a $62 billion deal to buy the European drugmaker, capping a monthslong battle for control of it.
Shares in entertainment giant 21st Century Fox Inc. climbed 4% in thin premarket action after a report that Comcast Corp. is preparing an all-cash deal to top Walt Disney Co.’s $52.4 billion bid for some Fox assets.
Shares in Hertz Global Holdings Inc. look set for a down day after the car-rental company posted a wider-than-expected quarterly loss late Monday, while AMC Entertainment Holding Inc.’s stock appears on track for gains after an earnings beat.
Shares in pay-TV company Dish Network Corp. , Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. and Dean Foods Co. are likely to see active trading as they’re among the companies expected to post earnings before the open.
What are other markets doing?
European stocks dipped, while Asian markets mostly closed higher.
Gold futures lost ground, as the ICE U.S. Dollar Index advanced.