By Peter Nurse
Investing.com - U.S. stocks are seen opening mostly lower Tuesday, after Monday’s record-breaking session, with sharp gains in Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) stock likely to cause the Nasdaq to outperform.
At 7:05 AM ET (1205 GMT), the Dow Futures contract was down 163 points, or 0.6%, while S&P 500 Futures traded 17 points, or 0.5%, lower, while Nasdaq 100 Futures climbed 37 points, or 0.3%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 1.6%, or 472 points, higher Monday, while the S&P 500 was up 1.2%, both at record closing highs, as vaccine news from Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) sparked a rally in value stocks on hopes for a quicker end to the pandemic. The Nasdaq Composite added 0.8%.
However, this optimism has partially dissipated Tuesday as the number of coronavirus cases continues to increase in the short term, dampening the country’s near-term economic outlook. The U.S. recorded 166,000 new cases on Monday, along with 995 deaths. A record one million new cases were recorded last week.
The tech sector, which has tended to perform well during the pandemic, looks set to outperform Tuesday, especially given the likely hefty gains in Tesla’s stock after it was announced that the electric car maker is set to join the S&P 500 index in December. The $11.2 trillion of funds which are benchmarked to the index will have to gain proportional exposure to the stock.
The retail sector is also likely to be in focus Tuesday, with three big retailers--Walmart (NYSE:WMT), Home Depot (NYSE:HD) and Kohl's (NYSE:KSS)--reporting earnings before the market opens. All three handily beat expectations.
Additionally, news that Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) has launched an online pharmacy in the U.S., allowing customers to order and receive prescriptions without visiting stores, will hit competitors such as Walgreens Boots (NASDAQ:WBA), CVS Health (NYSE:CVS) and Rite Aid (NYSE:RAD). CVS stock was down 7% in premarket, while the other two stocks were down over 10% each.%
Retail sales are expected to slow in October from the 1.9% growth seen in September, when the numbers are reported at 8:30 AM ET (1230 GMT). Analysts estimate a rise of 0.5%.
Industrial production for October is expected to have increased 1% from a contraction of 0.6% the prior month, while manufacturing production is seen up 1%, from a contraction of 0.3% in September. These numbers are due at 9:15 AM ET.
Oil prices edged lower Tuesday, with eyes on the world’s top producers to see whether they will agree to a further extension of supply curbs given the hit to demand caused by the pandemic.
OPEC+, a group which includes members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries as well as Russia, is due to hold a ministerial committee meeting later Tuesday which could recommend changes to production quotas when all the ministers meet on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1.
U.S. crude futures traded 0.2% lower at $41.25 a barrel, while the international benchmark Brent contract fell 0.2% to $43.73.
Elsewhere, gold futures traded 0.1% lower at $1,887.05/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.2% higher at 1.1874.