Wall Street's main indexes were set for a subdued open on Tuesday, as investors scoured for clues on what the Federal Reserve's next policy move might be, while commodity stocks got a boost after China unveiled a bumper stimulus package.
The S&P 500 and the blue-chip Dow closed at record highs in the previous session after a survey signaling steady business activity soothed concerns of an imminent recession, and as a number of policymakers supported further policy easing by the Fed.
Yields on longer-dated Treasury bonds rose as traders priced in a greater likelihood of the economy achieving growth with low inflation and unemployment.
However, with the benchmark index's valuations high above long-term averages and clarity still lacking about the size of the Fed's next move, some investors stayed away from big bids.
At 8:35 a.m., ET Dow E-minis were up 35 points, or 0.08%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 1.5 points, or 0.03% and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 15.25 points, or 0.08%.
The Fed's decision to commence its policy easing cycle last week sparked a market rally that has propped up Wall Street's main indexes for monthly gains and set on track to defy the historical trend of losses on average in September.
Fed Governor Michelle Bowman's remarks are in focus on the day. She had voted for a 25 basis point rate reduction on signs of persistent price pressures, as opposed to the larger 50 bps rate cut the central bank delivered in the previous week.
Traders are now pricing in the Fed's November decision to be a coin toss, with bets neither strongly favoring a 50 bps nor a 25 bps reduction, as per the CME Group's FedWatch Tool.
"Between now and the time the Fed meets, we'll have a couple of jobs reports. They've told us unemployment now is the thing that's driving rate cut decisions. The soft landing is when unemployment doesn't start skyrocketing," said Kim Forrest, chief investment officer at Bokeh Capital Partners.
On the data front, a survey, due at 10:00 a.m. ET, is expected to show consumer confidence improved in September from the previous month. Still, the main focus will be weekly jobless claims and personal consumption expenditure data, expected later in the week.
Among top premarket movers, U.S.-listed shares of Chinese firms such as Alibaba rose 5.4%, PDD Holdings added 4.6% and Li Auto advanced 8% after the world's second-largest economy, China, unveiled its biggest stimulus since the pandemic to pull the economy out of its deflationary funk.
The upbeat mood also lifted copper and lithium miners. Freeport-McMoRan added 4.8%, Southern Copper rose 4.5%, Albemarle advanced 4.3% and Arcadium climbed 2.8%.
Oil companies Chevron added 1%, SLB rose 1.6% and Occidental Petroleum gained 1.5% tracking a 2% jump in crude prices.
Visa lost 2.1% after a report showed the U.S. Department of Justice plans to file a lawsuit against the payments network operator, alleging that it illegally monopolized the country's debit card market.
Salesforce rose 1.9% after Piper Sandler upgraded the software company to "overweight" from "neutral". - Reuters
