By Oliver Gray
Investing.com - U.S. stock futures rose slightly in early APAC trades on Tuesday following a mostly negative session as market participants look ahead to Thursday’s key Federal Reserve policy decision, while monitoring the ongoing conflict in Ukraine as the war enters in 19th day.
During Monday’s regular session, the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished flat at 23,945.25, the S&P 500 declined 31.2 points or 0.74% to 4,173.12 while the tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite slid 262.59 points or 2.04% to 12,581.22.
Dow Jones Futures were up 0.2%, S&P 500 Futures 0.29% and Nasdaq 100 Futures gained 0.48%.
Amid ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, both countries started a fresh round of ceasefire talks on Monday, with Mariupol city council reporting that 160 private vehicles had managed to leave the city for the first time. Meanwhile, officials from the United States and China met to discuss a range of challenges facing their bilateral relationship after the U.S. raised concerns last week that Beijing may attempt to help Russia blunt global sanctions.
Among stocks, technology companies declined, with Block Inc (NYSE:SQ) down 6.95%, Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) losing 2.52%, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) dropping 1.3%, Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:FB) down 0.52%, Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) down 3.02%, and Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) losing 2.66%.
EV makers suffered losses with Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) down 3.64%, Rivian Automotive Inc (NASDAQ:RIVN) losing 5.83% and Lucid Group Inc (NASDAQ:LCID) down 5.98%.
Major financial players pushed higher on rising bond yields, with JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) up 0.99%, Citizens Financial Group Inc (NYSE:CFG) adding 4.03%, Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) up 2.16%, Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C) adding 0.13%, Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) up 2.87%, Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) easing 0.54% and Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) down 0.62%.
On the bond markets, United States 10-Year rates were at fresh 32-month highs of 2.142%.
Ahead in the week, investors are widely anticipating a 25 basis point rate hike from the Federal Reserve as officials commence a two-day meeting on Tuesday. Mounting inflationary concerns will also weigh on the decision as a wave of coronavirus infections led to a lockdown in the Chinese manufacturing city of Shenzhen.