By Investors Hub
The major U.S. index futures are pointing to a higher opening on Tuesday following the modest weakness seen in the previous session.
Early buying interest may be generated on Wall Street in reaction to upbeat earnings news from several big-name companies.
Stocks fluctuated over the course of the trading session on Monday before ending the day modestly lower. With the drop on the day, the Dow closed lower for the fourth consecutive session.
The major averages climbed off their worst levels going into the close, with the S&P 500 peeking above the unchanged line.
While the S&P 500 inched up 0.15 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 2,670.29, the Dow edged down 14.25 points or 0.1 percent to 24,448.69 and the Nasdaq fell 17.52 points or 0.3 percent to 7,128.60.
The weakness on Wall Street came amid concerns about rising treasury yields, with the yield on the benchmark ten-year note nearing 3 percent.
The continued increase by treasury yields came as traders expect rising inflation to lead the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates.
Traders seemed somewhat reluctant to make more significant moves, however, as a number of big-name companies are due to report their results in the coming days.
On the U.S. economic front, the National Association of Realtors released a report showing a bigger than expected increase in existing home sales in the month of March.
NAR said existing home sales climbed by 1.1 percent to an annual rate of 5.60 million in March after surging up by 3.0 percent to a rate of 5.54 million in February. Economists had expected existing home sales to edge up by 0.2 percent.
Existing home sales rose for the second consecutive month but are still down by 1.2 percent compared to the same month a year ago.
“Robust gains last month in the Northeast and Midwest – a reversal from the weather-impacted declines seen in February – helped overall sales activity rise to its strongest pace since last November at 5.72 million,” said NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun.
He added, “The unwelcoming news is that while the healthy economy is generating sustained interest in buying a home this spring, sales are lagging year ago levels because supply is woefully low and home prices keep climbing above what some would-be buyers can afford.”
Most of the major sectors ended the day showing only modest moves, although considerable weakness was visible among gold stocks.
Reflecting the weakness in the gold sector, the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index slumped by 2.3 percent. The sell-off by gold stocks came amid a notable decrease by the price of the precious metal.
Significant weakness was also visible among tobacco stocks, which extended the sharp pullback seen in recent sessions. The NYSE Arca Tobacco Index dropped by 1.3 percent to its lowest closing level in two months.
Steel, semiconductor, and computer hardware stocks also moved to the downside on the day, while some strength emerged among natural gas stocks.
Adedapo Adesanya