U.S. stocks were shaping up to build on the prior session’s losses Tuesday, though a stream of earnings reports could provide a cue for a shift.
On the docket are heavyweights Pfizer Inc., due before the bell, and Apple Inc., expected after hours.
The Federal Reserve was in focus, as the central bank’s rate setters prepared to kick off their two-day policy meeting.
What are the main benchmarks doing?
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average YMM8, -0.05%[1] fell 49 points, or 0.2%, to 24,082, while those for the S&P 500 ESM8, +0.01%[2] dropped 2.75 points, or 0.1%, to 2,644.25. Nasdaq-100 futures NQM8, +0.00%[3] shed 12 points, or 0.2%, to 6,601.
The indicated losses come after a negative session on Monday[4], when the Dow industrials DJIA, -0.61%[5] pulled back 0.6%, the S&P 500 SPX, -0.82%[6] dropped 0.8% and the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, -0.75%[7] gave up 0.8%.
For the month of April, the Dow logged a 0.3% gain, cutting its year-to-date loss to 2.3%. The S&P rose 0.3% in April, but is still down 1% in 2018. The tech-laden Nasdaq rose less than 0.1% on the month, with a year-to-date advance of 2.4%.
What’s driving markets?
The Federal Reserve will draw attention, as policy makers are slated to start a two-day meeting Tuesday. When it wraps its meeting on Wednesday, the central bank is expected to leave interest rates on hold and signal no change to a tightening path of two more rate increases in 2018, even given bond yields and inflation have been rising faster than expected.
See: Why the Fed could make 4 rate hikes this year[8]
The U.S. tariffs on aluminum and steel imports are in focus again. President Donald Trump on Monday gave top allies — the European Union, Canada and Mexico — an extension to the tariff exemption[9] to allow more time negotiate...