Investing.com – Wall Street futures pointed to a flat open on Tuesday as a light economic calendar ahead of the unofficial start for first quarter earnings left investors contemplating rising geopolitical tensions.
The blue-chip Dow futures was unchanged at 6:55AM ET (10:55GMT), the S&P 500 futures slipped 1 point, or 0.03%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 1 point, or 0.02%.
Pressure mounted Tuesday as South Korea's acting president warned on Tuesday of "greater provocations" by North Korea over concern of another military test in coming days, while a U.S. Navy strike group traveled to the region.
In response to the deployment, North Korea's state-run Korean Central News Agency quoted a foreign ministry spokesman as saying that the country would defend itself by "a powerful force of arms" against what it sees as any potential aggression by the United States.
Markets also kept an eye on the rising geopolitical tension as foreign affairs ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) major global powers were joined by Middle East allies at their second day of meetings in Italy in the hopes of establishing a united front against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
The G7 is hoping to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin to break ties with Assad, as U.S. Secretary of State was set to visit Moscow Wednesday in what would be his first diplomatic mission.
The Russian Foreign Ministry noted that Russia-U.S. relations were in their most difficult period since the cold war, although it was hoping for productive talks over both Syria and North Korea, according to reports from Interfax.
Back stateside, Federal Reserve (Fed) chair Janet Yellen offered little insight into the U.S. monetary policy after the market close on Monday as she maintained her previous view that rate hikes should be gradual in order to allow “the economy to kind of coast” in order to avoid overheating.
"Whereas before we had our foot pressed down on the gas pedal trying to give the economy all the oomph we possibly could, now allowing the economy to kind of coast and remain on an even keel -- to give it some gas but not so much that we are pressing down hard on the accelerator -- that’s a better stance of monetary policy," she said.
"We want to be ahead of the curve and not behind it," Yellen explained.
Markets continued to price in the next rate hike for the June meeting with odds standing at around 59%, according to Investing.com’s Fed Rate Monitor Tool
The economic calendar continued to be light on Tuesday with the major data point being the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) at 10:00AM ET (16:00GMT).
Minneapolis Fed president Neel Kashkari, the lone policymaker at the central bank to vote against the rate hike, was also scheduled for an appearance at 1:45PM ET (17:45GMT).
Key scheduled market events would have to wait until Thursday’s start of the earnings season with major U.S. banks J.P. Morgan (NYSE:JPM), Citigroup (NYSE:C) and Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) reporting.
Also to keep in mind that trading is light this week due to the Easter holiday with the New York Stock Exchange closed on Friday and many traders celebrating Passover and taking advantage of the holiday season in general.
Meanwhile, oil prices struggled near a five-week high on Tuesday recovering from overnight losses and turning higher in early morning trade ahead of weekly data on U.S. inventories.
Market players looked ahead to the American Petroleum Institute’s weekly report on crude inventories at 4:30PM ET (20:30GMT) Tuesday.
Official government figures will be released on Wednesday amid expectations for a build of 0.316 million barrels.
U.S. crude futures inched up 0.06% to $53.11 by 6:55AM ET (10:55GMT), while Brent oil edged forward 0.09% to $56.03.