(Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures remained steady on Tuesday, with the Nasdaq index hovering near record highs ahead of retail sales data and comments from several Federal Reserve officials.
Technology stocks lifted the S&P 500 to its fifth record closing high in six sessions on Monday and the Nasdaq to its sixth straight record close.
Shares of Megacaps Apple (NASDAQ:), Microsoft (NASDAQ:) and Alphabet (NASDAQ:) rose 0.1-0.7% in premarket trading on Tuesday.
Chipmakers Broadcom (NASDAQ:), Micron (NASDAQ:) and US-listed stocks Hand Holdings (NASDAQ:) shares rose 0.5% to 2.7% after their strong performance on Monday lifted them to a record high.
The focus now is on fresh economic data in the US, where May retail sales, as well as industrial production and inventories data will be closely watched.
Comments from US Federal Reserve officials will also be scrutinized to understand how central bankers view the current economic situation and the path forward for monetary policy, after recent forecasts showed the Fed now sees just one interest rate cut this year instead of three previously forecast.
However, markets have seized on a string of economic data pointing to some weakness among consumers and the labor market and are largely pricing in nearly 50 basis points of easing this year, according to LSEG.
“The depth and pace of the contraction cycle has not yet been determined, but we are seeing two contractions this calendar year,” said John Velis, Americas macro strategist at BNY Mellon (NYSE:).
Six Fed appearances are scheduled for Tuesday, including voting committee members Thomas Barkin and Adriana Kugler, as well as Susan Collins, Austan Goolsbee, Laurie Logan and Alberto Musalem. [FED/DIARY]
Hopes for multiple rate cuts this year, enthusiasm for artificial intelligence companies and strong earnings from other tech companies have helped support stocks, although the rally in the past few months has been driven largely by a handful of stocks.
Futures tracking the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell on Tuesday. Russell small-cap stocks are already down more than 2% for the month.
At 5:44 a.m. ET, they were down 5 points, or 0.01%, up 1.5 points, or 0.03%, and up 37.25 points, or 0.19%.
Builder Lennar Shares (NYSE:) fell 3.2% after forecasting lower-than-expected home delivery volumes for the third quarter after the bell on Monday.
Shares of NextEra Energy (NYSE:) fell 5.5%, extending losses from the previous session, after the utility announced it was selling $2 billion worth of shares at $50.
Edtech company Chegg (NYSE:) shares jumped 20% after announcing job cuts as part of a restructuring plan.
Markets will be closed on Wednesday due to public holidays on June 19th.