Investing.com – Wall Street futures pointed to a lower open on Tuesday as Google was hit with a record fine and investors looked ahead to a speech from Federal Reserve (Fed) chair Janet Yellen.
The blue-chip Dow futures fell 25 points, or 0.12%, at 7:11AM ET (11:11GMT), the S&P 500 futures lost 4 points, or 0.15%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures traded down 27 points, or 0.47%.
Hitting headlines prior to the U.S. market open, the European Commission (EC) fined Google a record €2.42 billion ($2.7 billion) Tuesday for a breach of antitrust laws.
“Google has abused its market dominance as a search engine by giving an illegal advantage to another Google product, its comparison shopping service,” the EC declared on Tuesday.
The firm’s general counsel Kent Walker responded that the they disagree with the ruling and cited Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) as a competitor.
“We will review the Commission’s decision in detail as we consider an appeal, and we look forward to continuing to make our case,” he concluded.
Shares in Google’s parent Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Inc C (NASDAQ:GOOG) were off around 1% in pre-market trade.
On the economic front, investors will focus on the publication of the Conference Board's consumer confidence for June at 10:00AM ET (14:00GMT).
Market players also looked ahead to a speech from Fed chair Janet Yellen.
Scheduled to speak on global economic issues at 1:00PM ET (17:00GMT) Tuesday, markets hope for any new insight on the timing of when the Fed will next raise interest rates and/or begin the reduction of its $4.5 trillion balance sheet.
Earlier Tuesday, San Francisco Fed president John Williams warned that the U.S. and other advanced economies would find themselves stuck in a long-term slow growth period if fiscal authorities didn’t take action.
Investors will also hear Philadelphia Fed chief Patrick Harker speak on the economic outlook at 11:15AM ET (15:15GMT), while Minneapolis Fed president Neel Kashkari will participate in a townhall at 5:30PM ET (21:30GMT).
Tuesday’s session was replete with input from global central bankers as European Central Bank (ECB) governor Mario Draghi gave an upbeat view of the euro zone’s strengthening recovery and reflationary pressures, but insisted that accommodative monetary policy should be maintained.
Meanwhile, the Bank of England’s (BoE) financial stability report suggested that banks needed to set aside more capital, although it considered the overall risks from the domestic U.K. environment to be at a “standard level”.
But BoE governor Mark Carney noted that there are some risks that require particular vigilance, including consumer credit and Brexit.
Meanwhile, oil rose for a fourth consecutive session on Tuesday, after five straight weeks of declines, as prices were boosted by a weaker dollar and investors covering short positions, despite continued consider over rising U.S. shale production.
Still ahead, industry group the American Petroleum Institute will release its weekly report on U.S. crude inventories at 4:30PM ET (2030GMT) later on Tuesday. Official data from the Energy Information Administration will be released Wednesday, amid forecasts for an oil-stock drop of around 2.2 million barrels.
U.S. crude futures gained 0.90% to $43.77 by 7:11AM ET (11:11GMT), while Brent oil traded up 1.11% to $46.55.