U.S. Stocks May Show A Lack Of Direction In Early Trading

(RTTNews) - Following the sharp pullback seen in the previous session, stocks may show a lack of direction in early trading on Tuesday. The major index futures are currently pointing to a roughly flat open for the markets, with the S&P 500 futures up by less than a tenth of a percent.

Traders may be reluctant to make significant moves amid lingering uncertainty about President Donald Trump's trade policies.

Trump on Monday signed an executive order officially extending the suspension of reciprocal tariffs on U.S. trade partners.

The executive order says the 90-day suspension, which was due to expire on Wednesday, has been extended until August 1st based on "additional information and recommendations from various senior officials."

However, Trump also said the new tariff deadline is "not 100 percent firm," adding, "If they call up and they say something a different way, we're going to be open to that."

The move comes after Trump posted several letters to world leaders on Truth Social threatening to impose higher tariffs on at least fourteen countries.

A lack of major U.S. economic data may also keep some traders on the sidelines ahead of the release of the minutes of the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy meeting on Wednesday.

The Fed minutes may shed additional light on the outlook for interest rates ahead of the central bank's next meeting on July 29-30.

CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating a 95.3 percent chance the Fed will leave rates unchanged later this month.

Stocks moved sharply lower during trading on Monday, giving back ground after moving sharply higher over the past several sessions. The major averages moved to the downside in early trading and slid more firmly into negative territory as the day progressed.

The major averages ended the day off their worst levels of the day but still notably lower. The Dow tumbled 422.17 points or 0.9 percent to 44,406.36, the Nasdaq slumped 188.59 points or 0.9 percent to 20,412.52 and the S&P 500 slid 49.37 points or 0.8 percent to 6,229.98.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher during trading on Tuesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index rose by 0.3 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index climbed by 0.7 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets are turning in a mixed performance on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index is down by 0.3 percent, the German DAX Index is just above the unchanged line and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.1 percent.

In commodities trading, crude oil futures are slipping $0.06 to $67.87 a barrel after surging $0.93 to $67.93 a barrel on Monday. Meanwhile, after edging down $0.20 to $3,357.40 an ounce in the previous session, gold futures are dipping $5 to $3,337.80 an ounce.

On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 146.58 yen compared to the 146.05 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Monday. Against the euro, the dollar is trading at $1.1722 compared to yesterday's $1.1709.