Stock futures rise as Wall Street awaits U.S. midterm elections
U.S. stock markets index futures rose Tuesday following a winning day for markets as investors looked ahead to U.S. midterm elections. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 107 points, or 0.33%. S&P 500 futures were up 0.35%. Nasdaq 100 futures advanced 0.63%. Shares of Lyft fell nearly 20% premarket while Take-Two Interactive and Tripadvisor slumped more than 18% each after reporting disappointing quarterly results. The moves come after a day when all major indexes notched a second straight positive session. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed higher by 423.78 points, or 1.31%. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 gained 0.96%, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.85%. Investors are awaiting Tuesday’s midterm election results. They will determine which party controls Congress and steer future policy and spending. Market participants will watch whether Republicans take back the House of Representatives, the Senate or both. “The financial market reaction to a Republican win should be muted, as the House outcome is already widely expected, and the Senate outcome makes less of a difference to policy outcomes if Republicans control the House,” Goldman Sachs’ Jan Hatzius wrote in a Monday note. “A surprise Democratic win in the House and Senate would likely weigh on equities, as market participants might expect additional corporate tax increases,” Hatzius added. Wall Street will also closely watch Thursday’s consumer price index report for the latest data on how much the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes have tamed high inflation. This reading could also signal the central bank’s path forward – another hotter-than-anticipated report could embolden the Fed to raise rates aggressively in December. Earnings season continues this week. On Tuesday, Lordstown Motors, Lucid Group, Walt Disney and AMC Entertainment all report their latest quarterly results. Stocks in the Asia-Pacific were mixed Tuesday as investors digest the Bank of Japan’s summary of opinions and look ahead to the U.S. midterm elections. The Nikkei 225 in Japan rose 1.25% to close at 27,872.11 and the Topix rose 1.21% higher to close at 1,957.56. The S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.36% in Australia to end the session at 6,958.9. In South Korea, the Kospi gained 1.15% to close at 2,399.04. The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was 0.5% lower in its final hour of trade, while mainland China’s Shanghai Composite fell 0.43% and the Shenzhen Component lost 0.578%. Oil prices were little changed early on Tuesday as supply worries offset recession fears and China’s commitment to its zero-Covid policy. Brent crude rose 7 cents, or 0.1%, to $97.99 a barrel by 0155 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 7 cents, or 0.1%, to $91.86 a barrel. Both benchmarks hit their highest since August on Monday amid reports that leaders in China, the world’s top crude importer, were weighing an exit from the country’s strict Covid-19 restrictions. Gold prices were listless on Tuesday as investors held to the sidelines ahead of key U.S. inflation figures, which are likely to influence the Federal Reserve’s rate-hike narrative. Spot gold was flat at $1,675.29 per ounce, as of 0034 GMT. Bullion prices hit a three-week peak in the previous session, buoyed by a weaker U.S. dollar. U.S. gold futures fell 0.2% to $1,677.30.