Stock futures fell Tuesday as Wall Street struggled to carry over the positive momentum from last week. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 118 points, or 0.3%, while S&P 500 futures pulled back 0.3%. Nasdaq 100 futures declined 0.4%. Markets were closed Monday due to the Juneteenth holiday. Investors are coming off of a strong week, even as the major averages had slipped on Friday. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite posted their best weekly performances since March, with the broad-market benchmark rising 2.6% and the tech-heavy index adding 3.25%. It was also the S&P 500′s fifth positive week in a row — a first since November 2021 — and the Nasdaq’s eighth consecutive positive week, a feat it previously accomplished in 2019. Investors were seemingly receptive toward the central bank’s decision to skip a June rate hike last week. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told a press conference on Wednesday that the central bank has yet to make a decision on policy ahead of the July meeting. However, policymakers are forecasting two more quarter-point rate increases later this year. The decision to skip a hike in June broke the Fed’s streak of ten consecutive interest rate increases. Despite Powell’s insistence that future Fed policy will remain data dependent, stocks have been on an upswing. Investors are trying to gauge how last week’s strong market sentiment will hold up in a shortened trading week that is light on economic data. “We believe equity markets are as stretched as they can get with market participants wary of missing a potential new bull market,” Morgan Stanley’s Mike Wilson wrote in a note Tuesday. New York Fed President John Williams will appear with Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michael Barr at a corporate governance event in New York City on Tuesday. Fed Chair Powell is set to testify in front of Congress on Wednesday and Thursday. In earnings, investors will look toward a quarterly report from shipping giant FedEx on Tuesday after the the closing bell. Asia-Pacific markets traded mixed Tuesday as investors digested China’s central bank decision to cut its one-year and five-year loan prime rate by 10 basis points each to 3.55% and 4.20%, respectively. The move comes after the People’s Bank of China cut some of its key lending rates last week. Mainland Chinese markets were mixed following the announcement, with the Shanghai Composite down 0.47% to end at 3,240.46, its second-straight day of losses. In contrast, the Shenzhen Component rebounded from its Monday loss and was up 0.28%, closing at 11,305.35. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index slid 1.57%, dragged by health-care and technology stocks. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 climbed 0.86% and closed at 7,357, leading gains in the region and marking a seven day winning streak. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 reversed earlier losses and ended the day marginally up at 33,388.91, while the Topix lost 0.29% to close at 2,283.85. South Korea’s Kospi also continued its slide from Monday, falling 0.18% and ending at 2,604.91, along with the Kosdaq which saw a 0.22% loss and ended at 886.41. Oil prices slipped on Tuesday after China cut benchmark lending rates less than some expected while demand was seen rising this year, clouding the outlook for the world’s largest crude importer. Brent crude was up 47 cents or 0.6% at $76.56 a barrel at 0850 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude for July was down 13 cents from Friday’s close at $71.65. The July contract expires at the end of trade on Tuesday. Oil prices slipped on Tuesday after China cut benchmark lending rates less than some expected while demand was seen rising this year, clouding the outlook for the world’s largest crude importer. Brent crude was up 47 cents or 0.6% at $76.56 a barrel at 0850 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude for July was down 13 cents from Friday’s close at $71.65. The July contract expires at the end of trade on Tuesday.
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