FINWIRES · TerminalLIVE
FINWIRES

Stocks Mostly Down Pre-Bell as Traders Monitor Developments on US-Iran Negotiations; Fed Policy Meeting on Deck

By

-- US equity futures were mostly pointing lower on Tuesday as traders monitor developments on negotiations between the US and Iran and await the Federal Reserve's latest decision on interest rates, along with a fresh round of corporate earnings.

The S&P 500 decreased 0.2% and the Nasdaq declined 0.6%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average inclined 0.3% in premarket activity. The Nasdaq and S&P 500 finished Monday trading with new closing highs for a second consecutive session, while the Dow ended in the red.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt reportedly said Monday that President Donald Trump reviewed a new proposal from Iran to reopen the crucial Strait of Hormuz with national security officials, according to Bloomberg News. Trump has made his "red lines" extremely clear with respect to Iran and will address the matter "very soon," Leavitt said.

Tehran recently submitted a proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and delay talks on uranium enrichment, Axios reported, citing a US official and two other sources.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose 3.5% to $99.73 a barrel before the opening bell, while Brent gained 2.8% to $111.28.

The Fed's monetary policy committee is set to kick off its meeting on interest rates today, with a decision due tomorrow. Markets widely expect the central bank to keep its benchmark lending rate unchanged for a third consecutive meeting, according to the CME FedWatch tool.

With the Federal Open Market Committee's decision unlikely to surprise, the market is expected to focus on the policy statement and post-meeting remarks of Chair Jerome Powell, said David Doyle, head of economics at Macquarie Group.

"Given that elevated oil prices have persisted for nearly two months now, future guidance may shift somewhat," he said in a Monday report e-mailed to. "This would be in contrast to March where there were limited changes made. Our view remains that the next policy move is likely to be a hike with the most likely timing in (the first half of 2027)."

Treasury yields were trending upwards in premarket action, with the two-year rate advancing 1.9 basis points to 3.82% and the 10-year rate adding 1.8 basis points to 4.35%.

Coca-Cola (KO), S&P Global (SPGI), Spotify Technology (SPOT), United Parcel Service (UPS), Sherwin-Williams (SHW), Hilton Worldwide (HLT) and General Motors (GM) are scheduled to release their latest financial results before the bell, among others. Visa (V), T-Mobile US (TMUS) and Starbucks (SBUX) post earnings after the markets close.

Shares of Snap (SNAP) nudged down 0.2% pre-bell after the social media company finished the previous session with a 7.3% jump. Cadence Design Systems (CDNS) moved 0.4% lower as the computational software company announced its latest quarterly results. Oracle (ORCL) fell 5.5%.

Tuesday's economic calendar has the Case-Shiller Home Price Index and the Federal Housing Finance Agency House Price Index, both for February, at 9 am ET. The consumer confidence report for April is out at 10 am, along with the Richmond Fed manufacturing index for the same month.

Gold dropped 1.4% to $4,626 per troy ounce, while bitcoin ticked down 0.2% to $76,604.

Related Articles

Equities

Sector Update: Energy

Energy stocks were higher premarket Tuesday, with the State Street Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLE) gaining 1.4%.The United States Oil Fund (USO) rose 3.3%, while the United States Natural Gas Fund (UNG) was 1% higher.Front-month US West Texas Intermediate crude oil was up 3.5% to $99.66 per barrel at the New York Mercantile Exchange. Global benchmark North Sea Brent crude oil rose 2.4% to $104.20 per barrel, and natural gas futures were 0.6% lower at $2.71 per 1 million British Thermal Units.BP (BP) stock was more than 2% higher before the opening bell after the company reported higher Q1 underlying replacement cost profit and sales.

$BP$UNG$USO$XLE
International

February Case-Shiller US Home Price Index Rebounds From January Drop

The Case-Shiller National Home Price index rose by 0.3% in February before seasonal adjustment following a 0.2% decrease in January.The 10-city index rose by 0.6% in the month, while the 20-city index was up 0.4%.National home prices were up 0.7% year-over-year, down from a 0.8% annual gain in January."More than half of major U.S. metropolitan markets posted year-over-year price declines in February, signaling that the housing slowdown has broadened well beyond its Sun Belt origins," said Nicholas Godec, Head of Fixed Income Tradables & Commodities at S&P Dow Jones Indices.National home prices were up 0.1% month-over-month in February after seasonal adjustment, with the 10-city measure up 0.1% but the 20-city measure 0.1% lower.The monthly home price index report from S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller measures single-family home prices across the US with a two-month lag, broken down by city, with combined measures of the 10 and 20 largest cities and a national index. Case-Shiller reports percentage gains both from the previous month and a year earlier.Higher home prices are inflationary and are usually negative for bonds. The possible outcome for housing-related stocks is mixed, as higher prices suggest strong demand, but prices that are accelerating too fast can also deter potential buyers.

International

February FHFA Home-Price Index Holds Steady, Below Expectations

The FHFA's measure of home prices held steady in February after an upwardly revised 0.2% increase in the previous month, below the 0.1% gain expected in a survey compiled by Bloomberg as of 7:30 am ET.Prices were up 1.7% from a year earlier in February.Sale prices were up in four of the nine regions from the previous month, down in four other regions and unchanged in the East North Central region.The monthly home price index report from the Federal Housing Finance Agency measures single-family home prices across the US with a two-month lag, broken down by region. The FHFA reports percentage gains both from the previous month and a year earlier.Higher home prices are inflationary and a negative for bonds. The outcome for housing-related stocks is mixed, as higher prices suggest strong demand, but prices that are accelerating too fast can also deter potential buyers.