Dow Futures 90 Points Lower as Fed Meets and Big Tech Prepares to Report Earnings

© Reuters.

By Peter Nurse   

AiVIF.com - U.S. stocks are seen opening lower Tuesday, retreating from record highs ahead of the start of the latest Federal Reserve meeting and quarterly results from several massive tech tech companies.

At 7:05 AM ET (1105 GMT), the Dow Futures contract was down 90 points, or 0.2%, S&P 500 Futures traded 6 points, or 0.1%, lower and Nasdaq 100 Futures was flat.

The negative tone on Wall Street follows more heavy losses in Hong Kong earlier Tuesday, with the Hang Seng index falling more than 4%. The Chinese regulatory clampdown continued to pressurize the country’s tech companies and thus their American Depositary Receipts. All the major indices had closed at record highs on Monday.

Staying in the tech sector, Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) will be in the spotlight after the electric car manufacturer released stronger second-quarter earnings after the close Monday. It reported quarterly net income of more than $1 billion for the first time even after taking an impairment of $23 million on account of its bitcoin holdings.

There are more influential earnings due after the close Tuesday from the tech giants Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), companies that have been behind a lot of the strong gains in the equity markets this year.

Additionally, United Parcel Service (NYSE:UPS) posted a 15% rise in quarterly revenue, General Electric (NYSE:GE) lifted its free cash flow forecast for the year, citing a recovery in the aviation market, and 3M (NYSE:MMM), which reported a 17% rise in quarterly profit.

Aside from earnings, the Federal Reserve starts its latest two-day policy meeting later Tuesday. Investors will be looking for clues as to the thinking of the policymakers over when to start scaling back the central bank’s massive bond-buying program.

Tuesday’s major data release is the June durable goods orders release, at 8:30 AM ET, but there are also updates on national home prices and the monthly Conference Board consumer confidence survey. 

Elsewhere, oil prices stabilized Tuesday, following mixed news surrounding the Covid-19 virus, with the number of cases dropping in the U.K. and the Netherlands, but rising in the likes of France, Germany and the U.S.. 

Investors now await U.S. crude oil supply data from the American Petroleum Institute, due later in the day.

At 7:05 AM ET, U.S. crude futures traded 0.1% higher at $71.94 a barrel, while the Brent contract rose 0.2% to $73.84.

Additionally, gold futures fell 0.2% to $1,795.25/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.1% lower at 1.1787.