(Reuters) – Wall Street stock index futures fell on Tuesday, with mega-cap stocks retreating after a strong session as caution set in ahead of the release of U.S. jobs data and a series of other key U.S. labor market reports due throughout the week to provide guidance on monetary policy.
Shares of Microsoft, Apple and Amazon.com fell in premarket trading after jumping 2% to 3% the day before. Tesla lost 1% after jumping 6% on Monday, ahead of the company’s June quarter deliveries, which are expected to fall for two straight quarters for the first time.
AI chip leader Nvidia also fell 1.4%, while other semiconductor stocks such as Micron Technology, Marvell Technology and Arm Holdings also fell nearly 1%.
On the data side, the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS, is due out after the market opens and is expected to show job openings fell to 7.910 million in May from 8.059 million the previous month.
The data would be crucial in determining the state of the U.S. labor market, which remains somewhat resilient even amid decades of high interest rates — a key determinant of economic health.
Other employment data due throughout the week include the ADP National Employment Index, weekly jobless claims and nonfarm payrolls. Other figures due this week include manufacturing orders and the services PMI, as well as the minutes from the Federal Reserve’s most recent policy meeting.
With the stock market closed on Thursday for U.S. Independence Day, trading volumes are expected to be light throughout the week.
As recent data signal further moderation in inflation and some signs of economic weakness, market participants are maintaining their bets on two interest rate cuts by year-end, starting in September, according to FedWatch data from LSEG.
“We continue to observe that US exceptionalism has eased somewhat. In particular, increasing tensions have been observed on US consumers while tension in the US labour market has eased,” OCBC analysts said.
“Our internal view continues to anticipate two reductions for 2024, with the first occurring in the third quarter.”
Additionally, investors will also be analyzing remarks from Fed Chairman Jerome Powell at a monetary policy panel ahead of the European Central Bank’s central banking forum.
As of 5:31 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 124 points, or 0.31%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 23.25 points, or 0.42%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 102.25 points, or 0.51%.
Among other major stocks moving before the market open, Paramount Global climbed 4.6% after billionaire Barry Diller’s digital media conglomerate IAC considered a bid to take over the media giant.
Atlassian rose 1.9% after Piper Sandler upgraded the enterprise software maker to “neutral” from “overweight,” while CrowdStrike Holdings slid 2.1% after the same brokerage downgraded the cybersecurity company to “neutral” from “overweight.”
(Reporting by Ankika Biswas in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)
