U.S. Stocks May Move Back To The Upside In Early Trading

(RTTNews) - The major U.S. index futures are currently pointing to a moderately higher open on Tuesday, with stocks likely to move back to the upside following the pullback seen in the previous session.

Early buying interest may be generated in reaction to a rebound by Bitcoin, which is surging by more than 2 percent after falling sharply on Monday.

Tech stocks like Oracle (ORCL), Nvidia (NVDA) and Broadcom (AVGO) are also seeing notable pre-market strength.

Overall trading activity may be somewhat subdued, however, as traders look ahead to the release of some key U.S. economic data.

On Wednesday, payroll processor ADP is scheduled to release its report on private sector employment in the month of November.

Economists currently expect private sector employment to edge up by 10,000 jobs in November after rising by 42,000 jobs in October.

The data could impact the outlook for interest rates ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy meeting next week.

CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating an 87.4 percent chance the Fed will cut rates by another quarter point, up from 63.0 percent a month ago.

Reports on service sector activity, personal income and spending and consumer sentiment may also attract attention in the coming days.

After coming under pressure early in the session, stocks staged a recovery attempt in mid-day trading on Monday but moved back to the downside as the day progressed. The major averages all finished the session firmly in negative territory.

The Dow slumped 427.09 points or 0.9 percent to 47,289.33, the Nasdaq fell 89.76 points or 0.4 percent to 23,275.92 and the S&P 500 slid 36.46 points or 0.5 percent to 6,812.63.

The weakness on Wall Street comes as some traders looked to cash in on last week's rally, which saw the major averages stage a significant recovery from the sharp pullback seen earlier in November.

The major averages had closed higher for five consecutive sessions, clawing their way back toward their record highs.

Stocks have recently benefitted from renewed optimism about the outlook for interest rates following dovish comments from leading Federal Reserve officials.

However, the release of key U.S. economic data in the coming days could impact Fed officials' thinking, potentially keeping traders on edge.

The Institute for Supply Management released a report unexpectedly showing a modest decrease by its reading on U.S. manufacturing activity in the month of November.

The ISM said its manufacturing PMI slipped to 48.2 in November from 48.7 in October, with a reading below 50 indicating contraction. Economists had expected the index to inch up to 49.0.

Utilities stocks showed a significant move to the downside on the day, dragging the Dow Jones Utility Average down by 2.3 percent to its lowest closing level in two months.

Considerable weakness was also visible among biotechnology stocks, as reflected by the 2.1 percent slump by the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index.

Networking, healthcare and computer hardware stocks also showed notable moves to the downside, while energy stocks bucked the downtrend amid a sharp increase by the price of crude oil.

Commodity, Currency Markets

Crude oil futures are falling $0.21 to $59.11 a barrel after jumping $0.77 to $59.32 a barrel on Monday. Meanwhile, after climbing $19.90 to $4,274.80 an ounce in the previous session, gold futures are slumping $36.50 to $4,238.30 an ounce.

On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 156.03 yen compared to the 155.42 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Monday. Against the euro, the dollar is trading at $1.1613 compared to yesterday's $1.1610.

Asia

Asian stocks ended mostly higher on Tuesday despite a sell-off in bitcoin and fears about a repeat of the yen carry trade unwinding.

The dollar index lingered around two-month lows, while gold prices eased after a rebound in U.S. Treasury yields.

Oil held an overnight gain as traders watched for U.S. President Donald Trump's next steps on Venezuela and assessed the fallout from damage to a key Black Sea terminal.

China's Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.4 percent to 3,897.71 as investors awaited readouts from the annual agenda-setting Central Economic Work Conference and the December Politburo meeting.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index edged up by 0.2 percent to 26,095.95, paring a gain of as much as 0.9 percent.

China Vanke bonds saw a sharp fall today on news the distressed builder is seeking a one-year delay to pay a two billion yuan note originally due on December 15.

Japanese markets finished marginally higher after an auction of 10-year Japanese bonds saw strong demand and a measure of consumer confidence reached its highest level in 19 months.

The yield on 10-year government bonds reached a 17-year high of 1.88 percent today, fueled by speculation of an imminent interest rate hike by the Bank of Japan.

Uniqlo owner Fast Retailing topped the gainers list to end 1.8 percent higher while technology investor SoftBank Group plunged 5.2 percent.

Seoul stocks rose sharply, with automakers rallying after U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick confirmed that the general tariff rate on imports from South Korea, including on autos, would drop to 15 percent.

The Kospi jumped 1.9 percent to 3,994.93. Hyundai Motor shares spiked 4.5 percent and Kia Corp. surged 4.2 percent.

Australian markets eked out modest gains as higher copper and iron ore prices boosted mining stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index edged up by 0.2 percent to 8,579.70, while the broader All Ordinaries Index settled 0.1 percent higher at 8,877.50.

Across the Tasman, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX-50 Index closed up 0.4 percent at 13,502.77, recouping losses from the previous session.

Europe

European stocks have inched higher on Tuesday, with Ukraine peace talks and upcoming U.S. economic data in focus.

After U.S. officials met a Ukrainian delegation in Florida, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the revised U.S. proposal for ending the war with Russia "looks better."

Media reports suggest U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff has left for Moscow to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin and discuss a revised 19-point peace plan to end the war.

While the German DAX Index is up by 0.4 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the French CAC 40 Index are both up by 0.2 percent.

In economic releases, flash data published by Eurostat showed Eurozone inflation unexpectedly accelerated in November. The report said inflation rose to 2.2 percent in November, while it was expected to remain unchanged at 2.1 percent.

U.K. house prices logged faster-than-expected growth in November despite budget uncertainty, data from the Nationwide Building Society showed.

House prices grew 1.8 percent on a yearly basis in November, slower than the 2.4 percent increase seen in October. Nonetheless, the annual growth was faster than the forecast of 1.4 percent.

Bayer has moved sharply higher after the Trump administration supported the German pharmaceutical firm's bid to get the Supreme Court to curtail litigation alleging its Roundup pesticide causes cancer.

Victrex, a leader in high-performance polymers, has also soared after it delivered 12 percent volume growth in 2025.

Swiss cement group Holcim has also moved to the upside. The company said it was buying three companies in Britain, France and Germany that use recycled demolition materials.

Technology company ABB has also risen after completing its acquisition of Gamesa Electric's power electronics business in Spain from Siemens Gamesa.

U.S. Economic News

Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman is scheduled to testify before a House Financial Services Committee hearing on Oversight of Financial Regulators at 10 am ET.