Investing.com – Wall Street futures pointed to a flat open on Tuesday as bulls looked set to take a break after the Dow notched a ninth consecutive closing high while foreign economic trade data put a damper on sentiment and investors prepared for the final string of second quarter earnings.
The blue-chip Dow futures inched up 3 points, or 0.01%, at 6:55AM ET (10:38GMT), the S&P 500 futures slipped 2 points, or 0.06%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 2 points, or 0.03%.
China’s exports and imports showed a much weaker-than-expected increase in July, raising concerns over the strength of global demand.
Data out from Germany didn’t help to assuage worries as the euro zone’s number one economy also saw exports and imports slump in June.
The 2.8% drop in exports was the largest monthly decline since August 2015, putting an end to five months of growth, while the unexpected 4.5% decrease in imports was the biggest fall since January 2009.
The disappointing data kept global stocks in check on Tuesday in a session where the economic focus stateside will be on the Job Openings and Labor Turnover survey (JOLTS) for June it what will otherwise be a relatively quiet day.
The report has garnered more attention despite the lag on the data, as Federal Reserve (Fed) chair Janet Yellen has cited the survey when assessing the state of the labor market.
However, with last Friday’s solid jobs report, investors are concentrating on inflation data as the last obstacle for the Fed to get the definitive green light on its return to policy normalization.
In that light, eyes will be on both the producer price index (PPI) and the consumer price index (CPI) to be released on Thursday and Friday, respectively.
Earnings will also be at the forefront of markets although the flow has decreased considerably.
Already, 426 of the S&P 500 companies have reported with 73% topping profit forecasts on 11.77% growth and 70% beating consensus on sales with 6.1% growth, according to The Earnings Scout.
Ahead of the Tuesday’s opening bell, results are due from Dean Foods (NYSE:DF), CVS Health (NYSE:CVS), Michael Kors (NYSE:KORS), Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL), Time Inc (NYSE:TIME) (NYSE:TIME), Wayfair (NYSE:W), SeaWorld (NYSE:SEAS), Norwegian Cruise Line (NASDAQ:NCLH) and Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT).
Disney (NYSE:DIS), Priceline (NASDAQ:PCLN), TripAdvisor (NASDAQ:TRIP), Hertz Global (NYSE:HTZ), Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST), Continental Resources (NYSE:CLR) and Zillow (NASDAQ:ZG) will report after the market close.
Meanwhile, oil prices showed mixed trade on Tuesday as investors focused on reports of lower crude supplies from Saudi Arabia and also looked ahead to the outcome of a meeting of some oil ministers from OPEC and non-OPEC producers in Abu Dhabi to assess how the group can increase compliance with production cuts that began at the start of the year.
According to recent calculations, compliance fell to 86% in July, the lowest level since January.
Investors also awaited weekly data from the American Petroleum Institute on stockpiles of crude and refined products, with a report due at 4:30PM ET (20:30GMT).
U.S. crude futures gained 0.18% to $49.48 by 6:57AM ET (10:57GMT), while Brent oil slipped 0.02% to $52.36.