Traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange
Source: NYSE
Stock futures are little changed in early morning trading Tuesday after the Dow and S&P 500 both started the week lower.
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 25 points, while the S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures both traded in mildly positive territory.
The Dow fell 126 points, or 0.36%, in the regular session Monday for its worst daily performance since May 19. The S&P 500 dipped 0.08%, and a losing materials sector — down 1.2% — weighed on the market.
The Nasdaq Composite edged 0.5% higher on Monday, boosted by shares of Biogen. The biopharmaceutical stock surged 38% after the FDA approved its groundbreaking Alzheimer’s drug.
Meme stocks continued their rally Monday. Shares of AMC Entertainment jumped 14.8%, and BlackBerry and GameStop shares also popped double-digits. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Monday it’s watching ongoing volatility in the market and vowed to protect retail investors.
Investors are awaiting new inflation signals later this week following Friday’s jobs report. While the U.S. added fewer jobs than expected in May, the unemployment rate dropped to 5.8% from 6.1% and markets reacted positively to the readout.
“The reflation trade is taking a bit of a backseat even as Friday’s ‘Goldilocks’ payrolls report served to quell some concerns that the economy might be doing a bit too well,” Goldman Sachs’ Chris Hussey said in a note Monday. “Today’s market action shows that these concerns might be here to stay.”
May’s consumer price index is set to be released Thursday. Economists are expecting the CPI to rise 4.7% from a year earlier, according to Dow Jones. In April, the CPI increased 4.2% on an annual basis, the fastest rise since 2008.
All eyes are on the next Federal Open Market Committee meeting scheduled for June 15-16 as investors look for what Fed officials will say about inflation and monetary policy. Recent comments by officials suggest the Fed is beginning to prepare markets for tapering its asset purchases.
