Stock Market Today: Futures slide ahead of the opening bell

• Nasdaq futures decline sharply ahead of the opening bell on Tuesday.
• Fed Chairman will testify on the semi-annual Monetary Policy Report this week.
• Factory Orders and ISM Services PMI data will be released later in the day.

S&P 500 futures fall 0.36%, Dow Jones futures drop 0.15%, and Nasdaq futures lose 0.74%.

S&P 500 (SPX), Dow Jones (DJIA), and Nasdaq (IXIC) indexes closed on Monday with a 0.12% loss, a 0.25% drop, and a 0.41% fall, respectively.

What to know before stock market opens

The Utilities Sector gained 1.65% on Monday, beating out the Real Estate Sector, which climbed 1.07% on the day. The Communications Services Sector declined 1.51% as the biggest-losing sector on Monday, followed closely by the Consumer Discretionary Sector, closing 1.27% lower.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. (HPE) climbed 10.22% to kick off the new trading week, ending Monday at $17.15 per share. Tesla Inc. (TSLA) was the biggest decliner on the first trading day of the week, shedding 7.16% and wrapping up at $188.14 at the closing bell.

Assessing the latest developments in equity markets, “the quiet start to the week for US equities did see the Magnificent 7 (-0.85%) under-perform, with slightly more moderate losses for the NASDAQ (-0.41%),” said Jim Reid, global head of economics and thematic research at Deutsche Bank, and continued:

“There were contrasting moves within the Magnificent 7, with Tesla down -7.16% amid new price cuts and discounts by EV maker, while Nvidia (+3.60%) overtook Saudi Aramco to become the third largest company in the world by market cap. On the other hand, the equal-weighted version of the S&P 500 was up +0.24% on the day, as utilities (+1.65%) and banks (+1.58%) outperformed. Back in Europe, the STOXX 600 (-0.03%) was flat on the day, but there was a noticeable underperformance from the FTSE 100 (-0.55%).” 

S&P and Nasdaq futures are presented by CME e-minis and Dow Jones futures are presented by CBOT e-mini.

Markets await US data, Fed Chairman Powell testimony

The US economic docket will feature January Factory Orders and February ISM Services PMI report on Tuesday. 

Speaking on the policy outlook on Monday, Atlanta Federal Reserve (Fed) President Raphael Bostic said that he expects the Fed to lower the policy rate by 25 basis points twice in 2024. “Inflation is still widespread, with more than the usual share of items increasing above 5% with trimmed mean remaining stuck at 2.6%,” Bostic added, Reuters reports.

In its Semi-annual Monetary Policy Report published on Friday, the Fed reiterated that it’s not appropriate to reduce the policy rate until they have greater confidence inflation will move sustainably toward 2%.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will present the monetary policy report and respond to questions in a two-day testimony before the Congress, starting Wednesday.

On Friday, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics will release February jobs report, which will  include Nonfarm Payrolls, the Unemployment Rate and wage inflation figures.