WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Following the mixed performance seen in the previous session, stocks are likely to move to the upside in early trading on Tuesday. The major index futures are currently pointing to a higher open for the markets, with the Dow futures up by 103 points.
The markets may continue to benefit from recent upward momentum, which has helped to lift the major averages well off their March lows.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq has shown a particularly strong upward move, soaring 34 percent since hitting its lowest closing level in over a year on March 23rd.
The Nasdaq has climbed firmly into positive territory for 2020 in recent sessions and is currently just 6.6 percent below the record closing high set in February.
Stocks have recently benefitted from optimism about the U.S. reopening following the coronavirus induced economic shutdown.
Hopes for a quick economic recovery have helped the markets shrug off dismal economic data as well as recent signs of a second wave of coronavirus infections in countries like South Korea and China.
The Nasdaq has benefited from strong gains by tech giants like Amazon (AMZN) and Netflix (NFLX), which have seen their businesses hold up well in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.
Not long after the start of trading, Dr. Anthony Fauci and other members of the White House coronavirus task force are due to testify before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
Traders may keep an eye on Fauci and the other task force members' comments regarding the risks of reopening the country too soon.
In an email to the New York Times reporter Sheryl Gay Stolberg, Fauci said he intends to warn the committee that opening the country prematurely could result in 'needless suffering and death.'
'The major message that I wish to convey to the Senate HLP committee tomorrow is the danger of trying to open the country prematurely,' Fauci wrote.
'If we skip over the checkpoints in the guidelines to: 'Open America Again,' then we risk the danger of multiple outbreaks throughout the country,' he added. 'This will not only result in needless suffering and death, but would actually set us back on our quest to return to normal.'
On the U.S. economic front, the Labor Department released a report showing consumer prices decreased in line with economist estimates in the month of April.
After pulling back sharply at the open, stocks fluctuated over the course of the trading session on Monday before eventually ending the session mixed.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq surged up to its best closing level in well over two months, while the S&P 500 ended the day nearly flat and the Dow closed in negative territory.
The Nasdaq climbed 71.02 points or 0.8 percent to 9,192.34, the S&P 500 inched up 0.39 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 2,930.19 and the Dow fell 109.33 points or 0.5 percent to 24,221.99.
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower during trading on Tuesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index and China's Shanghai Composite Index both edged down by 0.1 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index tumbled by 1.5 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets are turning in a mixed performance on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index has fallen by 0.4 percent, the German DAX Index is up by 0.1 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is up by 1 percent.
In commodities trading, crude oil futures are jumping $1.29 to $25.43 a barrel after slumping $0.60 to $24.14 a barrel on Monday. Meanwhile, after tumbling $15.90 to $1,698 an ounce in the previous session, gold futures are rising $5.90 to $1,703.90 an ounce.
On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 107.43 yen compared to the 107.66 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Monday. Against the euro, the dollar is valued at $1.0863 compared to yesterday's $1.0807.
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