Stock futures are little changed as investors await retail earnings, Fed minutes: Live updates

Stock futures are near flat Tuesday night as investors braced for earnings reports from major retailers and the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting minutes.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures added 37 points, or 0.1%. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures were also both little changed.

Stocks are coming off a mixed session. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite fell around 0.6% and 1.5%, respectively, in a largely risk-off day. On the other hand, the Dow was able to eke out a razor-thin gain, helped by a post-earnings jump in Home Depot.

Investors are awaiting July meeting minutes from the Fed due in the afternoon. At the time, policymakers once more held steady on interest rates, but Fed Governors Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman dissented, marking the first time two voting Fed officials have done so since 1993.

That comes ahead of remarks from Fed Chair Jerome Powell on Friday, which investors will monitor for insights into the path of interest rates. Fed funds futures are pricing in a nearly 85% likelihood of the central bank cutting interest rates at its next policy gathering in September, according to CME’s FedWatch tool.

“We expect this year’s Jackson Hole meeting to offer an opportunity for Powell to again nod towards monetary easing,” said Andrzej Skiba, head of the BlueBay U.S. Fixed Income team at RBC Global Asset Management. “While there are some hot spots in this month’s inflation reading, it’s probably not enough to deter the doves on the committee.”

Before the minutes on Wednesday, traders will monitor earnings reports from Lowe’s, Target and TJX Cos. due before the bell.