Stock futures were lower early on Tuesday morning after the major averages finished another losing week.
Stock futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 332 points, or about 1%. S&P 500 futures dipped 1.1%, and Nasdaq 100 futures shed about 1.4%.
Concerns about economic growth are hanging over investors as the U.S. market looks to recover after a rough first half to the year. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and China’s Vice Premier Liu He held a virtual call on Monday stateside to discuss macroeconomic issues. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield has declined in recent days even as the Federal Reserve has pledged to aggressively fight inflation.
“The US market is all about pricing in a slowdown, and pricing in the fact that the Fed is forced to hike rates into a slowdown,” Allianz chief economic advisor Mohamed El-Erian said on “Squawk Box.”
Markets finished one of the worst halves in decades on Thursday, and major averages posted their fourth week of losses in five despite modest gains during Friday’s trading session.
In this shortened holiday week, investors are looking ahead to the release of June jobs report data on Friday. According to Dow Jones estimates, job growth likely slowed in June with 250,000 nonfarm payrolls added, down from 390,000 in May. Economists surveyed expect the unemployment rate to hold at 3.6%.
This week’s economic calendar also includes Wednesday’s release of minutes from the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting. May factory orders are expected for Tuesday, with earnings from WD-40 and Levi Strauss scheduled for Friday.
The U.S. stock market was closed on Monday for the July 4 holiday, but trading in Europe was choppy ahead of the market open in New York. The Euro slid to a 20-year low against the dollar on Tuesday.
Last week, despite modest Friday gains, the Dow dipped 1.3%, the S&P 500 dropped 2.2%, and the Nasdaq fell 4.1%. During Friday’s trading session, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 321.83 points, or 1.1%, to 31,097.26, the S&P 500 gained 1.1% to 3,825.33 and the Nasdaq Composite edged 0.9% higher to 11,127.85.
