Investing.com – After Wall Street ended February on a sour note with the first three-month losing streak for both the S&P and Nasdaq since 2011, U.S. stock futures pointed to a higher open on Tuesday as crude moved broadly higher and investors shrugged off the news that activity in China’s manufacturing sector contracted for the seventh consecutive month while preparing to see similar data stateside.
A wave of sell orders at the end of Monday’s session pushed the S&P 500 into negative territory for the month. Both the index and the tech Nasdaq chalked up a third straight month of negative returns, the longest run since a five-month slump that ended in September 2011.
Yet, Wall Street appeared intent on shifting gears in March. The blue-chip Dow futures rose 138 points, or 0.84%, by 11:51GMT, or 6:51AM ET, the S&P 500 futures gained 18 points, or 0.93%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures traded up 38 points, or 0.89%.
Stocks moved in tandem with oil prices with West Texas Intermediate futures climbing above the $34-level amid indications U.S. shale oil drillers are cutting back on production. Crude oil futures for April delivery gained 1.13% to $34.13 at 11:54AM GMT or 6:54AM ET, while Brent oil traded up 0.44% to $36.73.
Meanwhile, investors were keeping an eye out for manufacturing data for February from both Markit and the Institute of Supply Management to be released at 14:45GMT or 11:45AM ET and 15:00GMT or 12:00 ET, respectively. Along with the ISM manufacturing PMI, the US Census Bureau will report construction spending data for the month of January.
Traders were also keeping their eye on comments from the Federal Reserve as both they and the central bank await the last big piece of data, the monthly employment report to be released on Friday, before the Fed makes a decision on monetary policy on March 16.
Meanwhile, New York Fed president and FOMC member William Dudley noted his concern about the outlook in a speech delivered in China on Tuesday. “At this moment, I judge that the balance of risks to my growth and inflation outlooks may be starting to tilt slightly to the downside,” Dudley said.
The comments suggested that the Fed may wait longer before embarking on the next interest rate hike.
On the political front, investors kept an eye glued to votes on presidential candidates. Donald Trump could extend his lead as the front-runner to be the Republican contender for the U.S. presidency on Super Tuesday, when voters in 11 U.S. states choose among the candidates. The idea of Trump in the White House is a worrying one for some investors who balk at his populist, unpredictable style.
On the Democrats side, front-runner Hillary Clinton is poised to win in landslides in roughly a dozen state races, which should give her the Democratic nomination.