U.S. stock futures edged lower early Tuesday as investors paused following February’s blistering hot streak.
Futures contracts tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average implied an opening drop of about 60 points. S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures were also slightly lower.
The move in futures comes after the three major indexes set another round of record highs on Monday. The Dow and S&P 500 have now advanced for six straight sessions, while the Nasdaq Composite has finished in the green on five of those six days.
The Russell 2000 led the way on Monday, jumping 2.5% to its own record high. The index has gained nearly 16% year to date.
A strong earnings season and improving data on the Covid pandemic and vaccinations are two factors that are helping to push stocks higher, said Victoria Fernandez, Chief Market Strategist at Crossmark Global Investments. She also said that some underlying data in last week’s jobs report, including an increase in hours worked, were encouraging even if the headline numbers showed a tepid recovery.
Given those trends, it would take a major change in the environment to cause anything more than a minor pullback, Fernandez said.
“To change the narrative, it would have to be something pretty significant,” Fernandez said. “It would have to be something that really changes the expectations about what’s going to happen with the labor market, or what’s happening with vaccines, or the guidance that we’ve been getting from companies on earnings.”
The solid run for stocks has come as lawmakers in Washington appear to be moving closer to another economic relief bill, even as former President Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial begins. House Democrats on Monday unveiled the details of a relief proposal that included $1,400 direct checks with faster phase-outs than previous bills.
On Tuesday, investors will get more updates on the state of the economic recovery with the NFIB’s small business survey and the Labor Department’s job openings and labor turnover data. DuPont and Goodyear Tire will report their latest earnings before the market opens in New York.
There are also several major tech companies set to report earnings on Tuesday afternoon, including Twitter and Cisco.
St. Louis Fed President James Bullard is slated to speak at noon ET.
