Dow futures edge 35 pts higher; Fed speakers, retail earnings in focus

By Peter Nurse

Investing.com -- U.S. stocks are seen opening largely unchanged, with investors digesting the possibility of China reinstating strict pandemic restrictions ahead of the appearance of more Fed speakers and retail earnings.

At 07:00 ET (12:00 GMT), the Dow Futures contract was up 35 points or 0.1%, S&P 500 Futures traded 4 points or 0.1% higher, and Nasdaq 100 Futures dropped 4 points or 0.1%.

The main stock indices closed lower on Monday, after China reported its first COVID-related death since May, raising fears that the country will have to reinstate the type of strict mobility restrictions it put on place at the height of the COVID-19 crisis. This would have a significant impact on the economic growth of the world's second largest economy and a major U.S. trading partner.

The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 45 points or 0.1% lower, the broad-based S&P 500 ended down 0.4%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.1%.

The prospect of reduced Chinese growth comes at a time investors are trying to gauge whether the Federal Reserve will continue into December its policy of aggressive rate hikes to combat inflation, or if the pace of rate hikes may slow.

The release of the minutes of the Fed's November meeting on Wednesday will be keenly studied, but ahead of this, there are a number of policymakers scheduled to speak later Tuesday. These include Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester, Kansas City Fed President Esther George, and St. Louis Fed President James Bullard.

The economic calendar for Tuesday centers around the Richmond Fed manufacturing index as well as the Redbook, a gauge of retail sales growth.

The retail sector remains in the spotlight Tuesday, with quarterly earnings due from the likes of Best Buy (NYSE:BBY), Nordstrom (NYSE:JWN), and Dollar Tree (NASDAQ:DLTR).

Elsewhere, Zoom (NASDAQ:ZM) stock slumped over 9% premarket after the video-conferencing platform lowered its annual revenue forecast, with CEO Eric Yuan bemoaning "heightened deal scrutiny for new business."

Urban Outfitters (NASDAQ:URBN) stock gained 2.6% premarket after the clothing retailer beat expectations for quarterly revenue growth, while CEO Richard Hayne said he was "encouraged" by current sales as it heads into the key Black Friday weekend.

Crude oil prices rose Tuesday, rebounded following recent sharp losses after Saudi Arabian energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, the de facto leader of OPEC+, denied that the group of top producers would be discussing a potential oil output increase at December's meeting.

This followed a report in the Wall Street Journal on Monday stating the group would consider an increase of up to 500,000 barrels per day next month.

The American Petroleum Institute is scheduled to release its weekly estimate of U.S. crude inventories later in the session, after reporting a draw of nearly 6 million barrels last week.

By 07:00 ET, U.S. crude futures traded 1.4% higher at $81.19 a barrel, while the Brent contract rose 1.4% to $88.71.

Both benchmarks had dived more than $5 a barrel on Monday, hitting 10-month lows, following on from even greater losses on Friday.

Additionally, gold futures rose 0.6% to $1,749.10/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.5% higher at 1.0288.

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