Key Events
Pinned Post
Stocks were on course to open in the red on Tuesday as Iran and Israel continued to exchange missile strikes and a series of social-media posts by President Donald Trump dashed the market’s hopes that the conflict between the two countries could de-escalate.
Futures tracking the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 240 points, or 0.6%. S&P 500 futures and contracts tied to the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 also fell 0.5%.
The three blue-chip indexes had closed higher on Monday, with investors hopeful that the geopolitical crisis in the Middle East could be resolved. They looked set to give up some of those gains after Trump called for the evacuation of Tehran in a post on his Truth Social platform, stoking fears that the conflict will drag on.
Trump has left the G-7 summit in Canada early, but he said in a follow-up post that his return to Washington wasn’t related to a cease-fire deal. The president said his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron was “mistaken” to say that a possible truce was the reason for his early departure from the G-7 meeting in Canada.
“Wrong! He has no idea why I am now on my way to Washington, but it certainly has nothing to do with a Cease Fire,” Trump wrote. “Much bigger than that,” he added.
The other issue that could move markets this week is the Federal Reserve meeting, which kicks off on Tuesday. Investors are all-but-certain the central bank will keep interest rates at their current level, but Chair Jerome Powell’s press conference could give a sense of whether policymakers feel they will have scope to lower borrowing costs sometime later this year.
Oil prices rebounded on Tuesday. The Brent international benchmark climbed 0.7% to $73.74 a barrel, and West Texas Intermediate U.S. prices rose 0.9% to $72.39 a barrel.
Gold slipped 0.3%, and a gauge of U.S. Dollar strength ticked up 0.2%. The yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note slid 2 basis points to 4.44%.
