Following the mixed performance seen in the previous session, stocks are likely to move mostly lower in early trading on Tuesday. The major index futures are currently pointing to initial weakness on Wall Street, with the S&P 500 futures down by 0.5 percent.<\/p>\n
The downward momentum on Wall Street comes amid a continued surge by treasury yields, with the yield on the benchmark ten-year note jumping to its highest levels in sixteen years.<\/p>\n
Treasury yields have been trending higher for much of the past month amid concerns about the outlook for interest rates.<\/p>\n
Recent comments by Federal Reserve officials have suggested the central bank may raise rates higher than had been anticipated and keep rates an elevated level for longer than expected.<\/p>\n
CME Group’s FedWatch Tool is currently indicating just a 25.7 percent chance the Fed will raise rates by another quarter point next month but a 38.2 percent chance of a quarter point rate hike in December.<\/p>\n
Key economic data due to be released in the coming days, including the closely watched monthly jobs report, could have a significant impact on the outlook for rates.<\/p>\n
Not long after the start of trading, the Labor Department is scheduled to release its report on job openings in the month of August. Economists expect job openings to edge down to 8.80 million in August from 8.83 million in July.<\/p>\n
After ending last Friday’s trading on opposite sides of the unchanged line, the major U.S. stocks indexes turned in another mixed performance during trading on Monday. While the tech-heavy Nasdaq ended the day firmly in positive territory, the Dow dipped to its lowest closing level in four months.<\/p>\n
The Nasdaq climbed 88.45 points or 0.7 percent to 13,307.77 and the S&P 500 crept up 0.34 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 4,288.39, but the Dow slipped 74.15 points or 0.2 percent to 33,433.35.<\/p>\n