Investing.com - U.S. stocks pointed to a modestly lower open on Tuesday morning, as financial markets awaited the outcome of the U.S. presidential election, with most investors cautiously betting on a win by Democrat Hillary Clinton.
The blue-chip Dow futures dipped 26 points, or 0.14%, by 6:55AM ET (11:55GMT), the S&P 500 futures inched down 5 points, or 0.2%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures slumped 10 points, or 0.19%.
U.S. stocks snapped a nine-day losing streak on Monday to rack up their biggest one-day percentage gain since March, after the FBI said that no charges were warranted in the case of Democrat Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server, lifting a cloud over her presidential campaign.
The highly-anticipated U.S. Presidential Election will be held on Tuesday. The Congressional Elections for the Senate and the House of Representatives will also be held today.
The first exit polls, which are a projection, are expected to come out on Tuesday night at around 7:00PM ET (00:00 GMT on Wednesday). Results will be declared state by state.
If the outcome is clear, the television networks are expected to make their official call at 11:00PM ET (04:00 GMT Wednesday).
Global financial markets were rattled last week by signs the U.S. presidential election race between Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican nominee Donald Trump was tightening.
However, hopes for a Clinton win mounted after FBI Director James Comey informed Congress over the weekend that it had "not changed its conclusions" on the private email server maintained by the Democratic candidate
According to the final Reuters/Ipsos States of the Nation project, Democrat Hillary Clinton has about a 90% chance of defeating Republican Donald Trump in the race for the White House.
Market players have tended to see Clinton as the candidate of the status quo, while there is greater uncertainty over what a Trump victory might mean for U.S. foreign policy, international trade deals and the domestic economy.
Among active pre-market movers, Valeant Pharmaceuticals (NYSE:VRX) saw shares drop almost 8% after it slashed its guidance for the year as earnings for the latest quarter topped estimates but revenue slid more than expected.
Shares of Hertz Global Holdings (NYSE:HTZ) sank 33% ahead of the open after the car-rental company late Monday reported a sharp drop in quarterly profit and cut its outlook.
On the upside, News Corp (NASDAQ:NWSA) gained almost 5% after reporting fiscal first-quarter results that were roughly in-line with analyst estimates.
Elsewhere, European and U.K. stock markets were mixed in cautious trade, as markets were jittery before the results of the U.S. presidential election. Earlier, Asian shares closed mostly higher.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was little changed at 97.75 early Tuesday.
Meanwhile, oil futures extended gains from the prior session as traders continued to weigh prospects of a coordinated production cut among major global oil producers.