Tuesday August 30th

U.S. stock index futures rose Tuesday as Wall Street sought stability after another down day for stocks. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average traded 153 points higher, or 0.5%. S&P 500 futures advanced 0.5%, and Nasdaq 100 futures added 0.8%. The moves in futures comes as energy prices eased. West Texas Intermediate futures, the U.S. oil benchmark, fell more than 2.5%. Natural gas futures also dipped. Wall Street is coming off a second-straight decline, with the Dow losing 184 points Monday. The S&P 500 fell 0.67% and the Nasdaq Composite sank 1.02%. The market has given back some of its summer gains after recent comments by Federal Reserve officials made clear that the central bank aims to continue its rate hikes, even if they cause economic pain. “Investors are coming to terms with the idea that the Fed is serious about curbing inflation, even as recent data suggests inflation is starting to decline,” said Rod von Lipsey, managing director at UBS Private Wealth Management. “We believe the market’s summer rally was ephemeral and continue to recommend that investors remain selective and focus on defensive stock sectors like health care and dividend-paying stocks,” von Lipsey added. On Tuesday, investors will get several updates on the state of the economy, including the FHFA home price index for June, the Conference Board’s consumer confidence survey for August, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ job openings release for July. Shares in the Asia-Pacific were mixed on Tuesday after sharp falls to start the week following Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s hawkish speech in Jackson Hole. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.14% to end the session at 28,195.58, and the Topix index gained 1.25% to 1,968.38. The Kospi in South Korea added 0.99% to 2,450.93, and the Kosdaq increased 2.2% to 797.02. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 was 0.47% higher at 7,230.40. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index declined 0.42% in the final hour of trade, with the Hang Seng Tech Index trading 0.7% lower, while mainland China markets slipped. The Shanghai Composite fell 0.42% to 3,227.22, and the Shenzhen Component shed 0.39% to 11,970.79. Oil prices dipped on Tuesday, paring some gains from the previous session, as the market feared that more aggressive interest rates hikes from central banks may lead to a global economic slowdown and soften fuel demand. Brent crude futures for October settlement dropped $3.58, or 3.4%, to $101.55 a barrel, after climbing 4.1% on Monday, the biggest increase in more than a month. The October contract expires on Wednesday and the more active November contract was at $101.01, down 1.9%. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $94.34 a barrel, down $2.67, or 2.8%, following a 4.2% rise in the previous session. Gold prices edged lower on Tuesday, weighed down by expectations of more interest rate hikes by the U.S. Federal Reserve, while a slightly softer dollar lent some support to the metal. Spot gold had fallen 0.2% to $1,733.79 per ounce after hitting a one-month low of $1,719.56 in the previous session. U.S. gold futures were also down 0.21% at $1,746.1.