U.S. stock futures turned flat Tuesday morning after a positive start to the week, as investors brace for megacap earnings, the latest Federal Reserve interest rate decision, and a jobs report. Stocks are also on pace to snap a six-month winning streak. S&P 500 futures edged down by 0.06% while Nasdaq 100 futures lost 0.1%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were little changed. The major indexes earlier were slightly lower. Wall Street is coming off a positive session. Tesla shares jumped after the electric vehicle maker passed a key milestone in rolling out advanced driver-assistance technology in China, bolstering equities. Apple also rose following a bullish upgrade of the stock. The S&P 500 added 0.32%, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.35%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 146.43 points, or 0.38%. Even so, stocks are headed for their first losing month since October as rate cut expectations dropped significantly from where they were at the start of the year. The 30-stock index is on pace for a more than 3% loss in April. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite are headed for declines of more than 2%, each. Markets are pricing in just one quarter percentage point cut in 2024, down from the six or seven anticipated coming into the new year, as persistent inflation and a resilient economy raised the likelihood the Fed would stay higher for longer. “When you look at the size and the scope and the scale of the rally off the October lows, and then you layer on top of it, the stickiness of inflation in the end, … I wouldn’t be surprised to see some dampener on the market for a little period of time,” Dan Greenhaus, chief strategist at Solus Alternative Asset Management, told CNBC’s “Closing Bell.” There’s plenty of economic news on the docket this week, with Fed policymakers convening for their two-day policy meeting on Tuesday. The central bank is broadly anticipated to keep interest rates steady, but traders worry Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s post-meeting comments will lean more hawkish after the recent spate of hotter inflation reports. The busiest week of corporate earnings is set to continue with Amazon and Apple reporting their quarterly results Tuesday and Thursday, respectively. In early earnings news, McDonald’s missed estimates due to boycotts hitting Middle Eastern sales, sending shares down 2% in the premarket. Coca-Cola shares were lower, even though the soft drink giant beat estimates and raised its outlook. The April jobs report is also expected at the end of this week, preceded Wednesday by releases on job openings and private sector employment growth. U.S. Treasury yields were slightly higher on Tuesday as investors looked to economic data for hints about the state of the economy ahead of the Federal Reserve’s meeting. The yield on the 10-year Treasury was up by around two basis points to 4.634%. The 2-year Treasury yield was last at 4.979% after rising by less than one basis point. Asia-Pacific markets largely rose on Tuesday, tracking Wall Street moves overnight, while investors assessed factory activity figures from China. Japan’s Nikkei 225 climbed 1.24% to 38,405.66 as traders returned from a public holiday, while the broad-based Topix was up over 2% to 2,743.17. Japan’s retail sales for March rose at a slower-than-expected pace in March, while unemployment came in slightly above expectations. Data from China showed manufacturing activity expanded at a slower pace in April. The official purchasing managers’ index came in at 50.4 compared to 50.8 in March. The reading, however, beat Reuters estimates of 50.3. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was up 0.23%, while China’s CSI 300 fell 0.54% to close at 3,604.39. South Korea’s Kospi was 0.17% higher at 2,692.06, while the small-cap Kosdaq ended marginally lower at 868.93. The country’s factory output fell in March by the most in 15 months, down 3.2% compared to a 0.6% gain expected by a Reuters poll of economists. The Australian S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.35% to close at 7,664.1. Oil edged down in early trade on Tuesday after Israel-Hamas ceasefire talks in Cairo helped quell market fears of an expanded conflict in the Middle East, while worries about the outlook for U.S. interest rates weighed on the market. Brent crude futures dipped 5 cents, or 0.06%, to $88.35 a barrel at 0006 GMT, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures slipped 12 cents, or 0.15%, to $82.51 a barrel. Safe-haven gold was poised for a third consecutive monthly gain as geopolitical risks and central bank demand lifted bullion’s appeal, although prices fell on Tuesday as market focus shifted to the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting. Spot gold was down 1% at $2,312.17 per ounce, pressured by firmer dollar that makes the metal more expensive for overseas buyers. U.S. gold futures fell 1.4% at $2,324.80. Still, gold prices have gained more than 3% in April after scaling a record high of $2,431.29 earlier this month.
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