Wall Street Poised To Open Slightly Down

(RTTNews) - Initial signs from the U.S. Futures Index suggest that Wall Street might open lower on Tuesday. On the economic front, a slew of announcements might be influencing investor sentiments.

Geopolitical situations continue to influence global commodity prices. Oil prices fluctuated, while gold prices held steady above $5,000 an ounce. The U.S. dollar index ticked higher.

Iran has confirmed that its security chief Ali Larijani was killed in the conflict.

As of 7.30 am ET, the Dow futures were down 14.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were declining 5.75 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were sliding 43.75 points.

The U.S. major averages ended Monday positive. The Nasdaq surged 268.82 points or 1.2 percent to 22,374.18, the S&P 500 jumped 67.19 points or 1.0 percent to 6,699.38 and the Dow advanced 387.94 points or 0.8 percent to 46,946.41.

On the economic front, The Federal Open Market Committee or FOMC meeting started.

The Housing Starts and Permits for February will be released at 8.30 am ET. In the prior month, the annual Starts rate was 1.487 million and annual Permits rates were 1.376 million.

The Pending Home Sales Index for February will be issued at 10.00 am ET. The consensus is decline of 1.00 percent, while it was down 0.8 percent in the prior month.

Twenty-year Treasury Bond auction will be held at 1.00 pm ET.

Four-month Treasury auction will be released at 11.00 am ET.

Eight-week Treasury bills auction will be held at 11.00 am ET.

Asian stocks ended mixed on Tuesday. China's Shanghai Composite index fell 0.85 percent to 4,049.91. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index ended up 0.13 percent at 25,868.54.

Japanese markets ended on a flat note. The Nikkei average finished marginally lower at 53,700.39 while the broader Topix index ended 0.45 percent higher at 3,627.07.

Australian markets eked out modest gains to snap a three-day losing streak. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 rose by 0.36 percent to 8,614.30. The broader All Ordinaries index settled 0.30 percent higher at 8,819.40.