By Peter Nurse
Investing.com - U.S. stocks are seen opening higher Tuesday, rebounding after the sharp losses in the previous session, with investors watching Capitol Hill as a deadline on stimulus talks draws near.
At 7:30 AM ET (1130 GMT), S&P 500 Futures traded 24 points, or 0.7%, higher, the Dow Futures contract was up 196 points, or 0.7%, while Nasdaq 100 Futures climbed 78 points, or 0.7%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed Monday over 400 points, or 1.4%, lower and the S&P 500 fell 1.6%, their biggest one-day losses since Sept. 23, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.7%. The Dow and the S&P have fallen on four of the last five trading days, while the Nasdaq is now on a five-day losing streak.
Investors have their focus firmly set on Washington, looking for U.S. lawmakers to agree on fresh coronavirus stimulus before the presidential election. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said they had made progress in their latest talks Monday, and are set to talk again Tuesday.
Still, time is running short. On Sunday, Pelosi set a 48-hour deadline to reach an agreement, and the two sides seem to still be far apart on a handful of key issues. With the election just a couple of weeks away, it seems likely an agreement wouldn’t be reached until later this fall.
Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) kicked off Tuesday's earnings roster in style, with the consumer products giant benefiting from demand for its household cleaning products during the pandemic. Streaming giant Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) also reports on Tuesday, after the closing bell. This is another stock that racked up gains during the lockdowns as people were forced to spend prolonged periods at home.
The main economic release Tuesday is the housing starts number for September, due at 8:30 AM ET (1230 GMT). Analysts are looking for 1.457 million new starts, up slightly from 1.416 million in August, continuing the housing bounce as the pandemic prompts people to move out of cities to less densely populated areas where space is cheaper.
Oil prices traded largely unchanged Tuesday, after three consecutive days of losses, with worries about the demand for oil remaining given the growing number of Covid-19 cases in the U.S. and Europe.
Traders will be watching for crude and product inventory data from the American Petroleum Institute later on Tuesday, with analysts expecting U.S. oil and distillate stockpiles to have fallen in the latest week.
U.S. crude futures traded 0.1% higher at $41.08 a barrel, while the international benchmark Brent contract fell 0.2% to $42.54.
Elsewhere, gold futures fell 0.2% to $1,907.55/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.4% higher at 1.1810.