U.S. stock futures traded marginally higher on Tuesday as traders await Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s latest comments on the state of the economy.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose by 29 points, or 0.1%. S&P 500 futures gained 0.2%, while Nasdaq-100 futures dipped 0.3%.
WW International shares leapt in premarket trading. The firm, which is also known as WeightWatchers, said it’s acquiring Sequence, a subscription telehealth platform with a focus on chronic weight management.
The major averages are coming off a session that featured mild gains. The Dow on Monday advanced 0.1%, along with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite.
Stocks were higher to start the day after Goldman Sachs initiated coverage of Apple with a buy rating, lifting both the iPhone maker and the broader market. Apple makes up about 7% of the S&P 500. Other mega-cap tech stocks such as Alphabet and Microsoft also advanced.
However, the major averages gave up most of those gains following a slight rise in bond yields. Investors have been troubled by moves in the bond market after the 10-year Treasury yield recently topped a key 4% threshold.
“It really just felt like back to kind of those 2020 days where a handful of the FANG names were doing a lot of the heavy lifting, and to us, that suggests this rally is feeling a bit on its last legs,” BTIG’s Jonathan Krinsky said Monday on CNBC’s “Closing Bell.”
On deck Tuesday and Wednesday is congressional testimony from Fed Chair Powell, who will give remarks on where he sees the U.S. economy — and what he expects for interest rates to go from here.
January wholesale inventories data is set to release Tuesday after the opening bell, giving investors insight into the consumer economy. Economists polled by Dow Jones expect a decline of 0.4%, compared to a rise of 0.1% in the prior reading.
Consumer credit data expected Tuesday afternoon is forecasted to show a rise of $22 billion in January, according to consensus estimates from Dow Jones. That would follow a $11.6 billion increase the prior month.
