Dow Futures Down 15 Pts in Subdued Trading; Novavax Slumps

© Reuters

By Peter Nurse

Investing.com -- U.S. stocks are seen opening in a subdued fashion Tuesday, with investors awaiting more corporate earnings results as well as the release of a key inflation report later this week.

At 07:00 AM ET (1100 GMT), the Dow Futures contract was down 15 points, or 0.1%, S&P 500 Futures traded 9 points, or 0.2% lower, and Nasdaq 100 Futures dropped 70 points, or 0.5%.

The three main indices on Wall Street all closed largely unchanged Monday, and this range-bound trading is expected to continue Tuesday as investors await Wednesday’s release of the July consumer price index for clues as to the likely thinking of the Federal Reserve regarding future interest rates hikes.

A significant drop in the inflation number could be a sign that the economy is slowing enough for the Fed to ease back on its aggressive monetary tightening, when it next meets near the end of September.

Second-quarter economic data released later in Tuesday’s session, in the form of nonfarm productivity and unit labor costs, could also provide clues about the health of the economy.

Corporate earnings will also be in focus, and with the second-quarter reporting period more than halfway completed some 78% of reports have beaten expectations, above the long-term average, according to data from Reuters.

The likes of Workhorse (NASDAQ:WKHS), Sysco (NYSE:SYY), and Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL) are set to report before the bell, while Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN), Spirit Airlines (NYSE:SAVE), Wynn Resorts (NASDAQ:WYNN), and Roblox (NYSE:RBLX) are due after the market closes.

Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) will also be in the spotlight after the biotech's stock slumped more than 30% premarket after it halved its full-year revenue forecast late Monday as it does not expect further sales of its COVID-19 shot this year in the United States.

Additionally, Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) stock slipped premarket after its Google unit was briefly down earlier Tuesday, with users in the U.S., U.K., Australia, and elsewhere reporting issues with the search engine.

Oil prices rose Tuesday, rebounding after recent losses on perceptions that the abrupt recent selloff has gone far enough in the near term.

Still, investors are also digesting the resumption of talks to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear accord, which could potentially result in the Persian country’s crude exports returning to the global market.

Such a deal could result in Iran boosting its oil exports by around 1 million barrels per day, but agreement has proved difficult to reach in the past.

Weekly U.S. oil inventory data from the American Petroleum Institute are due later Tuesday, ahead of the official data from the Energy Information Administration on Wednesday.

By 07:00 AM ET, U.S. crude futures traded 0.8% higher at $91.48 a barrel, while the Brent contract rose 1% to $97.62.

Additionally, gold futures rose 0.1% to $1,807.55/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.3% higher at 1.0227.