Stock futures cautious ahead of Fed Chairman’s testimony
Federal Reserve Chairman Jay Powell will go before the Senate Banking Committee to deliver the first of the Fed’s two-day semiannual monetary policy report to Congress amidst growing concerns of the impact of tariffs on the economy.
Dow Jones futures was 0.02% higher. The S&P 500 was lower by 0.04% and the Nasdaq Composite was off 0.10%.
“At Powell's testimony today, many will be watching to see what he says about the possibility of at trade war with China, which is weighing on many investors' minds and the Fed, too”, said Jonathan Hoenig, Managing Member at Capitalistpig.com. “That's one of the main arguments not to raise rates at present.”
It will also be a busy earnings day with three members of the Dow reporting. Traders will be watching results from UnitedHealth, Johnson & Johnson and Goldman Sachs.
Stocks were mixed on Monday as traders digested the latest economic data and earnings reports while interpreting the developments coming out of the summit between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 44.95 points to 25,064.36. The S&P 500 dipped 2.88 points to 2,798.43. The Nasdaq Composite was down 20.26 points at 7,805.72.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I:DJI | DOW JONES AVERAGES | 43870.35 | +461.88 | +1.06% |
| SP500 | S&P 500 | 5948.71 | +31.60 | +0.53% |
| I:COMP | NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX | 18972.420086 | +6.28 | +0.03% |
Netflix shares plunged in after-hours trading after the streaming giant’s subscriber growth fell far short of Wall Street’s expectations.
The California-based company added 670,000 net subscribers in the U.S., far below the 1.19 million net additions expected by analysts polled by Thomson Reuters. International subscriber growth also fell far short, as Netflix added 4.47 million against an expected 4.97 million.
On the economic calendar, June retail sales grew at 0.5% while the May reading was revised to 1.3% from the previously reported 0.8%. The Empire State manufacturing index fell after hitting an eight-month high, declining 2.4 points to 22.6 in July.
In Asia on Tuesday, China’s Shanghai Composite Index ended the day down 0.6%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index finished the session down 1.3%.
Japan’s Nikkei returned from Monday’s holiday to close 0.4% higher.
In Europe, London’s FTSE traded up 0.15%, Germany’s DAX was down 0.06%, France’s CAC was off basically flat.
FOX Business’ Leia Kilngel and Thomas Barrabi contributed to this article.