US pre-open: Futures slightly lower ahead of Presidential debate

(Sharecast News) - Wall Street futures were in the red ahead of the bell on Tuesday following big wins for major indices in the previous session. As of 1230 BST, Dow Jones futures were down 0.08%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.04% and 0.17% weaker, respectively.

The Dow closed 484.18 points higher on Monday, while the S&P 500 posted its first winning day so far this month.

Trade Nation's David Morrison said: "US stock indices put in a solid performance yesterday. They opened in positive territory, rallied throughout the day and ended near their highs. It was a good start to the week and went some way to offset last week's heavy losses which were compounded by Friday's weaker-than-expected payroll numbers. These helped to push the US majors down to levels last seen in mid-August. So yesterday's recovery has helped to restore some confidence.

"Yesterday's bounce has taken the majors back up towards a first line of significant resistance. If the S&P can break above 5,500 convincingly and hold it as support, then further gains are possible. But a failure at this level raises the probability that US stock indices loop lower once again."

On the macro front, the National Federation of Independent Business' small business optimism index decreased to 91.2 in August, the lowest reading in three months, down from 93.7 in July and significantly less than the 93.6 reading expected by economists.

"Historically high inflation remains the top issue for owners as sales expectations plummet and cost pressures increase. Uncertainty among small business owners continues to rise as expectations for future business conditions worsen", said NFIB chief economist Bill Dunkelberg.

The presidential debate between vice president Kamala Harris and former White House resident Donald Trump will also likely draw an amount of investor attention, with the two set to duke it out at 0200 BST.

In the corporate space, cloud computing giant Oracle shares rallied in pre-market trading after posting Q1 results that topped expectations on the Street, while Apple traded lower as news that it had lost a €13.0bn EU tax case overshadowed the unveiling of its new iPhone handsets.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com