Futures Point To Broadly Lower Open On Mounting Geopolitical Tensions

Geopolitical tensions have heightened after Iran has fired missiles at two commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz on Monday night.

Meanwhile, Ukraine is reportedly seeking NATO’s support to restrict increased attack from Russia. In a week, Russian missiles have struck Ukraine capital twice.

Asian shares finished in red, while European shares are trading mostly down.

Oil prices rose more than 1 percent on Tuesday. Brent crude futures jumped 1.7 percent to $73.18 a barrel.

Gold prices fell toward $4,100 an ounce. Spot gold fell 0.9 percent to $4,127.89 an ounce.

The dollar strengthened on safe-haven demand.

Early signs from the U.S. Futures Index suggest that Wall Street might open broadly down. As of 7.55 am ET, the Dow futures were adding 127.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were losing 16.50 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were sliding 332.75 points.

The U.S. major averages finished higher on Monday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq jumped 288.49 points or 1.1 percent to 26,121.16. The S&P 500 also advanced 54.19 points or 0.7 percent to 7,537.43, while the Dow rose 155.84 points or 0.3 percent to 53,055.91.

On the economic front, the International Trade in Goods and Services for May will be released at 8.30 am ET. The consensus is for a deficit of $78.7 billion, while the deficity in the prior month was $55.9 billion in the prior month.

Three-year Treasury Note auction will be held at 1.00 pm ET.

The 4-week, 8-week and 4-month Treasury bill auction will be held at 11.00 am ET.

The 6-week and 52-week Treasury bill auction will be held at 11.30 am ET.

The Federal Open Market Committee or FOMC Minutes will be published on Wednesday.

Asian stocks declined on Tuesday. China’s Shanghai Composite index ended 1.26 percent lower at 3,990.24. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index dipped 0.51 percent to 23,496.89.

Japanese markets tumbled. The Nikkei average fell 2.12 percent to 68,256.96 while the broader Topix index settled 0.97 percent lower at 4,062.26.

Australian stocks ended slightly lower. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.31 percent to 8,803.90 while the broader All Ordinaries index closed 0.36 percent lower at 9,004.70.

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