U.S. stock index futures were mixed on Tuesday ahead of producer price data that will likely offer some clues on the progress in the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate path. At the same time, Home Depot (NYSE: HD) slid after the company cut its full-year profit forecast.
Stocks wobbled on Monday with the S&P 500 nearly flat and the Nasdaq eking out modest gains, following a turbulent week marked by mixed economic reports and a rate hike by Japan’s central bank.
Macro data will grab the spotlight before the opening bell as the U.S. producer price index (PPI) reading is expected to show that inflation moderated to 2.3% in July on a yearly basis, while it remained unchanged at 0.2% for the month.
This will be followed by the all-important consumer price (CPI) figures for July on Wednesday and retail sales data on Thursday.
Traders continue to be evenly split between the 25- and 50-basis point interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve in September and expect the year-end rate at 4.25%-4.50%, according to CME’s FedWatch Tool.
“One could argue that equity is still in recovery mode after last week’s shake out, and holding out from really putting money to work until we get the key US data this week, where pricing U.S. growth is still the main game in town,” said Chris Weston, head of research at Pepperstone.
Futures linked to the Dow came under pressure as shares of Home Depot (NYSE: HD) slipped 4.6% after the home improvement chain forecast a decline in annual profit and a bigger drop in its annual comparable sales. Rival Lowe’s (NYSE: LOW) also fell 3.1%.
At 06:45 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were down 119 points, or 0.3%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 3.5 points, or 0.07%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 32 points, or 0.17%.
Futures for the small-cap-focused Russell 2000 index slipped 0.4%.
Also, on investors’ radar will be comments from Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic, due at 1:15 p.m. ET, on the outlook for the U.S. economy.
Wall Street’s fear gauge, CBOE Volatility Index was at 20.66 points after falling to 18.87 on Monday.
In premarket trading, chipmaker Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) led the inclines for megacap and growth stocks with a 1.2% gain.
Roger Federer-backed On Holding (NYSE: ONON) beat analysts’ estimates for second-quarter revenue on strong demand from customers looking for trendy products. However, its shares fell over 8% after the company reiterated its annual sales forecast.
BuzzFeed (NASDAQ: BZFD) rose 15.6% after the digital media company narrowed its net loss in the second quarter to $6.6 million from $22.5 million a year earlier.
(Source: ReutersReuters)
