Editor’s Note: The future prices of benchmark tracking ETFs, the lede, and the latest economic releases were updated in the story.
U.S. stock futures were swinging on Tuesday following Monday’s positive moves. Futures of major benchmark indices were mixed.
U.S. import prices rose by 0.3% in August, driven by higher costs for nonfuel imports, which compensated for a decrease in fuel prices. This marks the second consecutive monthly increase, following a 0.2% rise in July. Export prices also saw a 0.3% increase for the month, contributing to a 3.4% rise over the past year.
Meanwhile, advance estimates for U.S. retail and food services sales in August reached $732.0 billion, an increase of 0.6% from the previous month. This figure is up 5.0% compared to August of last year. The data also shows that total sales for the June through August 2025 period increased by 4.5% from the same period a year ago.
In a major setback for President Donald Trump, a U.S. Appeals Court for the District of Columbia denied an emergency motion to remove Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, allowing her to participate in this week's Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting.
In a 2-1 decision, Judges Brad Garcia and Michelle Childs issued a concurring opinion saying that Cook was likely denied her constitutional rights when removed without any opportunity to respond to the allegations against her.
Investors are eyeing the FOMC, which begins its two-day meeting today, and the decision on rate cuts will be announced on Wednesday at 2:00 p.m. ET.
The 10-year Treasury bond yielded 4.03% and the two-year bond was at 3.53%. The CME Group's FedWatch tool‘s projections show markets pricing a 100% likelihood of the Federal Reserve cutting the current interest rates for the Sept. 17 decision.
| Futures | Change (+/-) |
| Dow Jones | 0.05% |
| S&P 500 | 0.24% |
| Nasdaq 100 | 0.38% |
| Russell 2000 | 0.23% |
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) and Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (NASDAQ:QQQ), which track the S&P 500 index and Nasdaq 100 index, respectively, rose in premarket on Tuesday. The SPY was up 0.12% at $661.71, while the QQQ advanced 0.20% to $592.88, according to Benzinga Pro data.
Cues From Last Session
On Monday, the market saw a mixed performance across sectors, with Communication Services leading the gains. Other notable winners included Consumer Discretionary and Information Technology.
On the losing side, Consumer Staples was the biggest laggard, falling 1.15%, followed by Health Care, which dropped 1.01%.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 indices closed at record highs on Monday.
On the economic front, the Empire State Manufacturing Survey showed a modest decline in New York State business activity for September. The index fell 21 points into negative territory at −8.7, driven by sharp decreases in new orders and shipments, while the six-month outlook remained subdued.
In stock-specific news, CoreWeave Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWV) shares ended up 7.60% after the company announced a new $6.3 billion agreement with Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA), under which Nvidia will purchase unused cloud capacity.
Meanwhile, Robo.ai Inc. (NASDAQ:AIIO) shares rose 3.42% after signing a joint venture agreement to establish a Robo.ai Industrial City in Dubai.
The Dow Jones index ended 49 points or 0.11% higher at 45,883.45, whereas the S&P 500 index rose 0.47% to 6,615.28. Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.94% to 22,348.75, and the small-cap gauge, Russell 2000, gained 0.34% to end at 2,405.13.
| Index | Performance (+/-) | Value |
| Nasdaq Composite | 0.94% | 22,348.75 |
| S&P 500 | 0.47% | 6,615.28 |
| Dow Jones | 0.11% | 45,883.45 |
| Russell 2000 | 0.34% | 2,405.13 |
Insights From Analysts
The BlackRock Investment Institute is maintaining its "risk-on" investment stance, remaining overweight in U.S. equities despite acknowledging that core inflation is proving sticky.
The firm cited a softening labor market, which is expected to give the Federal Reserve justification to resume cutting interest rates this week, and the powerful artificial intelligence (AI) theme as key drivers for its positive outlook.
BlackRock's base case scenario hinges on the cooling jobs market, as the firm believes the Fed's monetary easing will bolster equities even as economic growth slows.
"A softening labor market gives the Fed space to cut, helping ease brewing political tensions from higher interest rates," the weekly commentary notes. This environment, characterized by slowing activity without a recession, is seen as a supportive backdrop for U.S. stocks, which have already surged to new all-time highs.
The AI theme remains a primary pillar of BlackRock's strategy, continuing to fuel U.S. equity performance and corporate earnings.
The report highlights that the tech sector is responsible for over 40% of the S&P 500's total return and a similar share of its earnings growth. BlackRock asserts that "the Al theme keeps providing near-term earnings support and could drive productivity in the long term".
Meanwhile, a McKinsey report, titled "Scaling bigger, faster, cheaper data centers with smarter designs," provided the foundation for bullish AI data center capacity projections.
It showed that total data center capacity demand, including non-AI workloads, was likely to grow from 82 GW in 2025 to 219 GW by 2030. Overall, McKinsey anticipates that capital spending on data center infrastructure, excluding the IT hardware itself, will surpass $1.7 trillion by 2030.
Whereas, when only considering the AI workloads, the capacity is expected to expand from 44GW to 156GW from 2025 to 2030.
This expansion is overwhelmingly driven by the proliferation of artificial intelligence, which is expected to account for 70% of the total data center capacity by 2030.
See Also: How to Trade Futures
Upcoming Economic Data
Here's what investors will be keeping an eye on Tuesday;
- Advance estimates for U.S. retail and food services sales in August showed an increase of 0.6% from the previous month.
- In August, U.S. import prices and U.S. export prices both advanced 0.3%.
- August’s industrial production and capacity utilization numbers will be out by 9:15 a.m. ET.
- July’s business inventories and September’s home builder confidence index data will be released by 10:00 a.m. ET.
Stocks In Focus
- Nukkleus Inc. (NASDAQ:NUKK) jumped 16.50% in premarket on Tuesday following the company's formal withdrawal of its S-1 registration statement from the Securities and Exchange Commission.
- Oscar Health Inc. (NYSE:OSCR) fell 3.15% as it revealed plans to offer $350 million in convertible senior subordinated notes.
- Adtran Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:ADTN) tumbled 9.96% after announcing a $150 million convertible senior notes offering.
- Ferguson Enterprises Inc. (NYSE:FERG) was up 1.55% ahead of its earnings report scheduled to be released before the opening bell. Analysts estimate earnings of $2.88 per share on the revenue of $8.41 billion.
- Brand House Collective Inc. (NASDAQ:TBHC) advanced 1.55% as analysts expect it to report earnings loss of 74 cents per share on revenue of $77.63 million before the opening bell.
- Evolution Petroleum Corp. (NYSE:EPM) rose 1.14% ahead of its earnings report scheduled to be released after the closing bell. Analysts estimate earnings of 1 cent per share on revenue of $20.90 million.
- Dave & Buster’s Entertainment Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAY) plunged 17.28% after posting weaker-than-expected results for the second quarter. Its revenue of $557.41 million missed analyst estimates of $562.78 million. The entertainment and dining company reported adjusted earnings of 40 cents per share, missing estimates of 92 cents per share.
- Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) was up 2.29% continuing its advance as Elon Musk, through the Elon Musk Revocable Trust, bought 2.57 million shares of Tesla on Friday, Sept. 12.
Commodities, Gold, And Global Equity Markets
Crude oil futures were trading lower in the early New York session by 0.54% to hover around $62.96 per barrel.
Gold Spot US Dollar rose 0.43% to hover around $3,694.64 per ounce. Its last record high stood at $3,697.17 per ounce. The U.S. Dollar Index spot was 0.20% lower at the 97.1110 level.
Asian markets closed higher on Tuesday, except China’s CSI 300 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng indices. Australia's ASX 200, India’s S&P BSE Sensex, Japan's Nikkei 225, and South Korea's Kospi indices rose. European markets were mixed in early trade.
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