Traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on April 14, 2022.
Source: NYSE
Stock futures ticked lower on Tuesday evening as investors looked ahead to a key inflation report due later this week.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 40 points, or 0.1%. S&P 500 futures pulled back 0.04%, while Nasdaq 100 futures slid 0.09%.
In after-hours trading, online marketplace eBay jumped more than 3% after announcing that it was raising its quarterly dividend and would spend an additional $2 billion on buybacks. Urban Outfitters lost 10% after missing estimates on the top and bottom lines in the fourth quarter.
In Tuesday’s regular session, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite ended the day with small gains, up 0.17% and 0.37%, respectively. The 30-stock Dow fell for a second straight day, off by 0.25%.
The S&P 500 and the Dow are off the highs they just notched late last week, but investors may want to think twice before they aggressively ramp up on equities.
“I just don’t think you chase at this point,” Drew Pettit, director of U.S. equity strategy at Citi, said on CNBC’s “Closing Bell: Overtime.” “A lot of good news is getting priced in – we are actually trading up even though the reporting season really hasn’t been great; we really haven’t had a lot of broad beats and broad raises.”
“Enjoy the ride in equities right now,” he added. “Just wait for a better time if you want to be more aggressive.”
On Wednesday, investors will look to earnings results from retailer TJX Cos. and pharmaceutical company Viatris in the morning. Salesforce will post its quarterly numbers after the close.
On the economic front, investors will look for wholesale inventories data Wednesday. However, the personal consumption expenditure reading for January will be the main event on Thursday, as it’s the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation.
Source Agencies
