Investing.com – Wall Street futures fell on Tuesday with market participants gauging the weakness in the dollar, trading at 16-month lows against the other major currencies on Tuesday, as downbeat Chinese manufacturing data dampened sentiment.
The blue-chip Dow futures tumbled 118 points, or 0.66%, by 10:48AM GMT, or 6:48AM ET, the S&P 500 futures traded down 14 points, or 0.69%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures shed 33 points, or 0.76%.
The China’s Caixin manufacturing purchasing managers’ index ticked down to 49.4 in April from 49.7 the previous month, compared to expectations for a rise to 49.9.
The contraction in manufacturing activity in the world’s second largest economy reduced risk appetite for stocks and sparked safe-haven demand with investors fleeing to the yen and gold.
At 10:50GMT, or 6:50AM ET, USD/JPY dropped 0.61% to 105.76, trading near 18-month lows.
On a broader level, the greenback was trading down for the seventh-consecutive day, having hit its lowest level since January 2015.
At 10:51GMT, or 6:51AM ET, the U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.34% at 92.22.
Meanwhile, gold for June delivery on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rose to an intraday peak of $1,303.85 a troy ounce before falling back to $1,297.10 by 10:52GMT, or 6:52AM ET, up $1.30, or 0.10%. On Monday, gold rallied to $1,306.00, the most since January 2015.
Oil had traded 1% higher earlier on Tuesday thanks to the weaker dollar, but turned around on reports of rising production in the Middle East and North Sea.
U.S. crude futures fell 1.30% to $44.20 by 10:53AM GMT, or 6:53AM ET, while Brent oil lost 1.07% to $45.34.
In a light calendar day, the ISM NY business conditions will be released at 13:45GMT, or 9:45AM ET, and total vehicle sales for April was set to come out at 20:00GMT, or 16:00ET.
Traders will also pay close attention to speeches from Federal Reserve (Fed) officials scheduled for Tuesday.
After the market close on Monday, San Francisco Fed president John Williams said any rate hikes by central banks world-wide will trend lower than in the past.
Cleveland Fed president Loretta Mester was scheduled Tuesday to chair a panel on how monetary policy affects market liquidity at 14:30GMT, or 10:30AM ET.
Atlanta Fed chief Dennis Lockhart will give a speech on the economic outlook and monetary policy after the U.S. market close at 23:00GMT, or 19:00ET.
In company news, Pfizer, Halliburton, The New York Times, Estee Lauder and Sprint were among companies scheduled to report earnings.