Stock futures fell early Tuesday after Wall Street ended the previous session lower, although the major U.S. benchmarks still recorded monthly gains.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down 0.54% at 5:08 a.m. ET. S&P 500 futures declined 0.58%, while Nasdaq-100 futures dropped 1%.
The S&P 500 gained 2.6% in August, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 3.9%. The Dow advanced 1.3% for the month, marking its fifth consecutive monthly gain.
Wall Street closes August under pressure
U.S. stocks ended August on a weak note. The Dow fell more than 370 points in regular trading as oil prices rose and pushed interest rates higher after the U.S. struck two rocket launchers on Iran’s Larak Island. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite also finished lower.
“Despite trading less than 115bps from ATHs going into today’s session, the market is exhibiting signs of nervousness across myriad of indicators,” traders at Goldman Sachs wrote, pointing to new American Association of Individual Investors Sentiment Survey data.
“This attitude toward risk is not just theoretical, investors are quite literally putting their money where their mouth is in terms of portfolio risk allocations.”
Investors await economic data
September has historically been a difficult month for stocks. Seasonal weakness, combined with a busy economic calendar, could keep investors cautious throughout the week.
Manufacturing and services-sector data are scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday. Investors will receive the August jobs report on Friday. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones expect 53,000 jobs were added during the month.
Asian and European stocks
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed 0.15% lower, while South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.23%. Australia’s benchmark S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.10%, and mainland China’s CSI 300 ended 0.30% lower.
European stocks were broadly lower, with the regional Stoxx 600 index down 0.6% in mid-morning trading. Oil and gas stocks moved against the wider trend, rising 1.3% as they tracked gains in crude prices.
Source: www.cnbc.com
