Dow Jones Today: Stock Futures Point to Modestly Lower Open for Major Indexes

Major stock indexes moved higher in early trading Tuesday as the market looks to extend a rally to start the week ahead of key economic data releases in the coming days.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite were both up 0.3%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.1%. On Monday, the major indexes, which were coming off their worst week of the year, each rose more than 1% in a broad-based recovery led by gains for technology stocks.

Large-cap tech tech stocks were mostly higher early Tuesday, with Nvidia (NVDA), Microsoft (MSFT), Alphabet (GOOGL), Amazon (AMZN), Meta Platforms (META) and Broadcom (AVGO) all gaining ground. Apple (AAPL), which unveiled its new AI-enabled iPhone on Monday, was down about 1.7% after a European Union ruling that will require the company to pay a $14 billion tax bill.

Oracle (ORCL) was the big gainer in early trading, with shares rising 13%, after the enterprise software company posted better-than-expected fiscal first-quarter results and announced a partnership with Amazon Web Services.

The economic data calendar is light ahead of Wednesday’s release of consumer price index data, which Federal Reserve officials will be scrutinizing as they consider cutting the central bank’s influential fed funds rate for the first time in four years. Chair Jerome Powell and other Fed officials have signaled that rate cuts could come as soon as the Sept. 18 meeting of the central bank’s policy committee, but they’ve stressed that incoming data will drive the decisions on the pace and depth of the easing.

Market participants are now pricing in a 27% chance that the Fed will cut the benchmark interest rate by half a percentage point next week, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool, which forecasts rate movements based on fed funds futures trading data.

The yield on 10-year Treasurys, which is correlated to expectations around interest rates, was little changed at 3.70%. The yield had dropped as low as 3.65% on Friday, its lowest level in more than a year, after a weaker-than-expected August jobs report.

The price of bitcoin was down slightly just below $57,000, while gold futures were holding steady at around $2,540. Crude oil futures were down about 1% to $68 a barrel, near the lowest level in more than a year.