Futures Pointing To Initial Pullback On Wall Street

Stocks may move to the downside in early trading on Tuesday, giving back ground following the rebound seen over the two previous sessions. The major index futures are currently pointing to a lower open for the markets, with the S&P 500 futures down by 0.3 percent.

Trades may look to cash in on the recent recovery by the markets amid lingering concerns about the impact of President Donald Trump’s trade policies and the economic outlook.

Overall trading activity may be somewhat subdued, however, as traders look ahead to the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy announcement on Wednesday.

While the Fed is almost universally expected to leave interest rates unchanged, traders will look to the accompanying statement as well as officials’ latest projections for clues about the outlook for rates.

On the U.S. economic front, the Commerce Department released a report showing new residential construction rebounded by much more than anticipated in the month of February.

The Commerce Department said housing starts spiked by 11.2 percent to an annual rate of 1.501 million in February after plunging by 11.5 percent to a revised rate of 1.350 million in January.

Economists had expected housing starts to increase by 1.0 percent to an annual rate of 1.380 million from the 1.366 million originally reported for the previous month.

Meanwhile, the report said building permits slumped by 1.2 percent to an annual rate of 1.456 million in February after falling by 0.6 percent to a revised rate of 1.473 million in January.

Building permits, an indicator of future housing demand, were expected to tumble by 2.2 percent to an annual rate of 1.450 million from the 1.483 million originally reported for the previous month.

A separate report released by the Labor Department showed an unexpected increase by U.S. import prices in the month of February.

The Labor Department said import prices climbed by 0.4 percent in February, matching an upwardly revised increase in January.

Economists had expected import prices to edge down by 0.1 percent compared to the 0.3 percent growth originally reported for the previous month.

The report also said export prices inched up by 0.1 percent in February after jumping by 1.3 percent in January. Export prices were expected to dip by 0.2 percent.

Shortly before the start of trading, the Federal Reserve is due to release its report on industrial production in the month of February. Industrial production is expected to rise by 0.2 percent in February after climbing by 0.5 percent in January.

After rebounding last Friday but still posting steep weekly losses, stocks continued to regain ground during trading on Monday. The major averages all moved to the upside over the course of the session.

The major averages pulled back well off their highs going into the end of trading but remained in positive territory. The Dow jumped 353.44 points or 0.9 percent to 41,841.63, the S&P 500 climbed 36.18 points or 0.6 percent to 5,675.12 and the Nasdaq rose 54.58 points or 0.3 percent to 17,808.66.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher during trading on Tuesday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index jumped by 1.2 percent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index surged by 2.5 percent.

The major European markets have also moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index is up by 1.3 percent, the French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.7 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.4 percent.

In commodities trading, crude oil futures are jumping $0.89 to $68.47 a barrel after climbing $0.40 to $67.58 a barrel on Monday. Meanwhile, after inching up $5 to $3,006.10 an ounce in the previous session, gold futures are surging $31.90 to $3,038 an ounce.

On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 149.90 yen compared to the 149.21 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Monday. Against the euro, the dollar is valued at $1.0901 compared to yesterday’s $1.0922.