Dipo Olowookere
By Investors Hub
The major US index futures are pointing to a modestly lower opening on Tuesday following the lackluster performance seen in the previous session.
A drop by shares of Alphabet (GOOGL) may weigh on the tech-heavy Nasdaq, with the parent of Google sliding by 1.3 percent in pre-market trading.
The downward momentum comes after Google was hit with a record $2.7 billion fine by European Union regulators over claims the company favored its own comparison-shopping service in search results.
Stocks continued to show a lack of direction on Monday as traders seemed uncertain about the near-term outlook for the markets after the Dow and S&P 500 reached record highs last week.
While the Nasdaq fell 18.10 points or 0.3 percent to 6,247.15, the Dow edged up 14.79 points or 0.1 percent to 21,409.55 and the S&P 500 inched up 0.77 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 2,493.07.
On the U.S. economic front, new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods fell by more than expected in the month of May, according to a report released by the Commerce Department.
The report said durable goods orders tumbled by 1.1 percent in May after slumping by 0.9 percent in April. Economists had expected orders to drop by 0.6 percent.
The bigger than expected decrease in durable goods orders was primarily due to a steep drop in orders for transportation equipment, which plunged by 3.4 percent in May after sliding by 1.8 percent in April.
Excluding orders for transportation equipment, durable goods orders actually inched up by 0.1 percent in May after falling by 0.5 percent in April. Ex-transportation orders had been expected to rise by 0.5 percent.
Most of the major sectors showed modest moves on the day, contributing to the lackluster performance by the broader markets.
