Futures Pointing To Roughly Flat Open On Wall Street

After ending yesterday’s lackluster session narrowly mixed, stocks may continue to experience choppy trading early on Tuesday. The major index futures are currently pointing to a roughly flat open for the markets, with the S&P 500 futures up by just 0.1 percent.

Traders may remain reluctant to make significant moves as they continue to await solid news out of trade talks between the U.S. and China.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told reporters the talks are “going well” and said he expects the negotiations to continue all day today.

A lack of major U.S. economic data may also keep some traders on the sidelines as they look ahead to the release of reports on consumer and producer price inflation in the coming days.

Following the strong upward move seen during last Friday’s session, stocks turned in a relatively lackluster performance during trading on Monday. Despite the choppy trading, the tech-heavy Nasdaq reached a new three-month closing high.

The major averages ended the day narrowly mixed. While the Dow edged down 1.11 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 42,761.76, the S&P 500 inched up 5.52 points or 0.1 percent to 6,005.88 and the Nasdaq rose 61.28 points or 0.3 percent to 19,591.24.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance during trading on Tuesday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index climbed by 0.3 percent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell by 0.4 percent.

The major European markets have also turned mixed on the day. While the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.5 percent, the French CAC 40 Index is down by 0.1 percent and the German DAX Index is down by 0.4 percent.

In commodities trading, crude oil futures are climbing $0.43 to $65.72 a barrel after jumping $0.71 to $65.29 a barrel on Monday. Meanwhile, after rising $8.30 to $3,354.90 an ounce in the previous session, gold futures are inching up $2.90 to $3,357.80 an ounce.

On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 144.52 yen compared to the 144.57 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Monday. Against the euro, the dollar is valued at $1.1429 compared to yesterday’s $1.1422.

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