US stock futures slipped on Tuesday as rising oil prices and inflation jitters took focus at the start of the holiday-shortened week.
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM=F) declined by 0.7%, while those on the S&P 500 (ES=F) fell 0.2%. Contracts for the Nasdaq-100 (NQ=F) rose just above the flatline as investors eyed inflation data and Oracle earnings later this week.
Rising oil prices put pressure on markets as Iran said it was close to a deal with Oman to manage traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. Brent crude oil futures (BZ=F), the global benchmark, crept toward $100 per barrel, while US benchmark WTI crude (CL=F) neared $93 per barrel.
Fears of an ongoing war in the Middle East have revived angst about inflation and a potential Federal Reserve rate hike this month, particularly after Friday’s blowout jobs report showed strong job gains in August. Investors are bracing for a fresh Consumer Price Index reading on Friday, which will indicate whether inflation is moving back down toward the Fed’s 2% goal or whether it remains a thorn in the central bank’s — and consumers’ — side.
On the earnings calendar, Oracle (ORCL) earnings are the highlight this week. But first, GameStop (GME) reports on Tuesday.
LIVE 4 updates
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Copper surges to all-time high as tariff turmoil rocks market
Bloomberg report:
Copper surged to its highest-ever price on the London Metal Exchange after a weeks-long rally fueled by anticipation that President Donald Trump will expand US tariffs to imports of refined metal.
Benchmark three-month futures on the LME gained as much as 0.8% to trade at $14,533 a ton, beating the previous record set in January.
The metal’s 17% advance over the past year has been underpinned by a long-term mismatch in supply and demand. The world’s ageing fleet of big mines is struggling to keep pace with usage from data centers, renewable energy and power grids — a backdrop trumpeted by copper bulls for years.
But shorter-term factors have come to the fore — especially the hundreds of thousands of tons shipped to the US this year by traders seeking to profit from higher prices there. The market is still pricing in the possibility of tariffs on primary copper imports, some two months after the Department of Commerce was due to issue a report to the White House advising on whether the levies are necessary.
Read more.
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‘They’re going to need to hike rates’: Wall Street weighs in on Fed’s next policy decision after blowout jobs report
Wall Street sees a blowout jobs report and spiking Treasury yields as another sign that the Fed is going to have to hike rates to clamp down on inflation.
The US economy added 162,000 jobs last month, blowing past economists’ expectations. If the Fed was looking for clues of a slowing economy, this report wasn’t it.
“They’re a little bit behind the curve,” Joe Brusuelas, RSM chief economist, told Yahoo Finance, in reference to the central bank. “They’re going to need to hike rates if they want to reinforce their credibility, and that’s going to cause a lot of problems at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.”
The Trump administration has been pushing hard for lower rates to bring borrowing costs down and flatten the yield curve, with the president threatening a trade embargo if they don’t.
Read more.
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Good morning. Here’s what’s happening today.
Economic data: NFIB small business optimism survey, August (99.2 expected, 99.8 previously); NY Fed 1-year inflation expectations, August (3.63% previously); Consumer credit, July ($12.97 billion expected, 14.17 billion previously)
Earnings calendar: Casey’s General Stores (CASY), FedEx Freight Holding Company (FDXF), GameStop (GME), VinFast Auto (VFS)
Catch up on some top stories from over the weekend:
Trump: Canada’s Bombardier cannot sell in US unless it builds there
OpenAI top scientist urges ‘extreme caution’ with pace of AI
Canada set to hit back at Trump tariffs, risking wider trade war
Shein’s value down $5 billion, among HK’s worst Post-IPO weeks
Why Nvidia wants Hugging Face to keep helping its rivals
Trump promises his Venezuela oil deal will ‘fill up’ the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. It’s not that simple.
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China’s exports pick up in August, jumping 25% on strong demand for autos and high tech goods
The AP reports:
China’s exports accelerated in August, jumping 25% from a year earlier on strong demand for autos and high-tech goods, its customs agency said Tuesday. The data came ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump’s planned meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, set for late September, though Beijing has not yet confirmed the exact date for the visit.
Exports grew 23.9% year-on-year in July.
Imports climbed 28.2% in August from a year earlier, up from July’s 27.5% rise. That led to a $119.1 billion trade surplus for China, widening from $112.5 billion in July.
“China is very competitive in its tech goods exports,” said Chi Lo, a senior market strategist for Asia Pacific at BNP Paribas Asset Management. In recent years, rising exports of electric vehicles, industrial machinery and semiconductors have helped fuel China’s robust shipments globally.
Read more.
