US stock futures lower; Fed head Powell set to speak By Investing.com

Investing.com– U.S. stock index futures slipped lower Tuesday, retreating from record levels ahead of an upcoming address by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

At 06:00 ET (10:00 GMT),  fell 124 points, or 0.3%, slipped 22 points, or 0.4%, and dropped 95 points, or 0.5%. 

The main Wall Street indices closed higher Monday, with the  gaining 0.3%, the  rising 0.1%, while the rose 0.8%, closing at a record level, buoyed chiefly by gains in technology stocks. 

Powell, payrolls and Fed minutes in focus 

Investors are taking a breath ahead of a speech by at a European Central Bank conference on Tuesday, where the Fed Chair could potentially address recent data showing some cooling in the U.S. economy and inflation.

The of the Fed’s meeting are due on Wednesday, and come after the central bank forecast during the meeting that it will cut interest rates only once in 2024. Several Fed officials have also warned that sticky inflation will delay any plans to loosen policy.

The May job openings and labor turnover report is also due out later Tuesday, but more focus will be on on Friday.

The labor sector has been running hot despite sticky inflation and high interest rates, and is also a key consideration for the Fed in cutting interest rates. 

But despite hawkish signals from the Fed, traders were seen increasing their bets that the central bank will cut rates by 25 basis points in September. The showed traders pricing in a 59% chance of such a possibility. 

Paramount Global in play? 

In the corporate sector, Paramount Global (NASDAQ:) rose 4% premarket after The New York Times reported that billionaire Barry Diller was considering a bid for the firm.

Boeing (NYSE:) stock fell 0.4% after the Associated Press reported that the U.S. Justice Department is waiting for the planemaker to accept a plea deal to settle felony fraud charges related to two fatal crashes of its 737 Max planes.

Tesla (NASDAQ:) stock fell 1.3% premarket after the EV maker’s June sales of China-made electric vehicles fell 24.2% from a year earlier to 71,007, data from the China Passenger Car Association.

Crude near two-month highs 

Crude prices rose Tuesday, holding near two-month highs on expectations for rising fuel demand during the U.S. summer.

By 06:00 ET, the U.S. crude futures (WTI) had gained 0.6% to $83.91 a barrel, while the Brent contract had climbed 0.7% to $87.16 per barrel. Both benchmarks touched to their highest levels since the end of April during the previous session.

Gasoline demand in the U.S., the world’s biggest oil consumer, is expected to ramp up as the summer travel season gathers steam due to the Independence Day holiday.

Traders will also be looking at the latest data on stockpiles from the industry body later in the session, as well as possible disruptions from Hurricane Beryl on U.S. oil refining and offshore production in the Gulf of Mexico.

(Ambar Warrick contributed to this article.)