US pre-open: Stocks seen lower ahead of Powell speech
Updated : 12:16
US stock futures pointed to a weaker open on Wall Street on Tuesday as investors eyed a speech by Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell.
At 1210 BST, Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 futures were down 0.3%, while Nasdaq futures were 0.4% lower. Markets were closed on Monday for the Juneteenth holiday.
TickMill Group said: "Stateside, investor attention will be drawn to housing data today, specifically housing starts and building permits, ahead of Fed Chair Powell's semi-annual testimony to Congress Wednesday.
"His comments will provide additional insights into the Fed's decision to skip a rate hike last week and offer further discussions on the prospects of Fed policy, including the conditions necessary to support or dismiss the policymakers' 'dot plot' projections, which currently indicate expectations of 50bps of additional hikes in the second half of the year."
On the macro calendar, building permits and housing starts figures for May are due at 1330 BST.
On the corporate front, FedEx is slated to report earnings after the close.
Eli Lilly was also set to be in focus after agreeing to buy Dice Therapeutics in a $2.4bn deal.
Elsewhere, PayPal announced that it will partner with KKR for buy now, pay later loans in Europe.