Investing.com – Wall Street futures pointed to a slightly higher open on Tuesday, as stocks were expected to recover from a two-day correction primarily in tech shares and investors shifted their focus to upcoming monetary policy decision from the Federal Reserve (Fed).
The blue-chip Dow futures inched up 17 points, or 0.08%, at 7:10AM ET (11:10GMT), the S&P 500 futures rose 4 points, or 0.14%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures traded up 11 points, or 0.20%.
Coming off Monday’s close which saw the biggest two-day drop in the Nasdaq since December on concern about tech stock valuations, U.S. stocks looked set to follow the same recovery path set down by global equities earlier in the session and shift attention to monetary policy as the Fed kicked off its two-meeting on Tuesday.
With the U.S. central bank widely expected to raise interest rates by a quarter point to a range between 1.0%-1.25%, investors' focus will be on any fresh hints on the pace of further tightening in the months to come and next year with particular attention on any details offered to wind down its $4.5 trillion balance sheet.
Most experts believed that Wednesday’s consumer price index (CPI) data would be unlikely to stay the Fed’s hand with expectations pointing to an easing to a 2.0% annual increase in the headline number and core inflation remaining steady at 1.9%.
In that light, market participants will keep an eye on Tuesday’s producer price index (PPI) that is general considered a leading indicator for CPI as manufacturers’ price increases tend to get passed on to consumers.
The dollar slipped lower against major rivals on Tuesday ahead of the decision with the U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, down 0.12% at 97.03 by 7:11AM ET (11:11GMT).
Gold for August delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange sank to one-week lows ahead of the decision. At 7:12AM ET (11:12GMT), the precious metal was last down $3.62, or around 0.3%, at $1,265.28.
Meanwhile, oil prices continued to move higher on Tuesday after Saudi Arabia said it would make significant export cuts in July amid signs of a drawdown in U.S. crude inventories, though increasing U.S. output continues to weigh on the market.
Crude maintained gains despite the fact that OPEC's monthly oil report released on Tuesday showed that the cartel actually increased production by 336,100 barrels per day (bpd) to 32.14 million bpd.
U.S. crude futures gained 0.30% to $46.22 by 7:13AM ET (11:13GMT), while Brent oil rose 0.25% to $48.41.