Investing.com - U.S. futures followed European stocks lower on Tuesday as a string of explosions at a Belgian airport and subway stations put nerves on edge and investors opted to take risk off the table in a holiday-shortened week.
The blue-chip Dow futures dropped 46 points, or 0.26%, by 10:59GMT, or 6:59AM ET, the S&P 500 futures fell 8 points, or 0.38%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures traded down 18 points, or 0.41%.
Safe-haven assets such as the yen, gold and German government debt all rose to the day’s highs on Tuesday, while European stocks fell to a session low, as a series of explosions in Brussels sparked a wave of risk aversion.
These asset classes did pare respective gains or losses as investors digested the news and it should be noted that moves can be exacerbated in a holiday week such as this.
“Coming up to the Easter holiday, people are going to be very reluctant to put more money into stocks,” Michael Hewson, chief market strategist at CMC Markets, told Reuters.
“If anything, they will be more likely to take money out,” he explained.
Meanwhile, oil prices moved lower as market players looked ahead to fresh weekly information on U.S. stockpiles of crude and refined products.
The American Petroleum Institute will release its inventories report later in the day, while Wednesday’s government report could show crude stockpiles rose by 3.0 million barrels in the week ended March 18.
U.S. crude futures fell 0.34% to $41.38 by 11:00AM GMT, or 8:00AM ET, while Brent oil slipped 0.17% to $41.47.
After both San Francisco Fed President John Williams and Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart said in separate news reports on Monday that a rate hike could come as early as next month, market participants will pay attention to couple of scheduled speeches from other Federal Reserve officials to come later on.
Chicago Fed President Charles Evans is scheduled to speak in the afternoon on economic conditions and monetary policy, while Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker is due to speak in the evening on growth and the role of economic policies.
On the data front, eyes will focus on the house price index for January, released at 13:00GMT, or 9:00AM ET, or the March manufacturing PMI at 13:45GMT, or 9:45AM ET.
Of lesser note the Richmond Fed will report manufacturing and services activity at 14:00GMT, or 10:00AM ET.