Stock index futures in the United States inched lower early Tuesday, following losses in equities globally, as investors chose to stay cautious ahead of minutes of the meeting at the Federal Reserve’s policy-making arm to look for cues whether more measures are on the way to boost the economy.
At the time of writing, S&P futures declined 8 points to 1154 while Nasdaq futures erased 16 points.
At 2:00 p.m. (E.T.), the Federal Open Market Committee will release the minutes of its September meeting and markets would look for hints to see if the central bank would induce a fresh round of quantitative easing measures to boost the uncertain economy.
On tap in earnings would be quarterly results declarations from companies such as Intel and CSX, among others.
Abroad, investors chose to stay cautious while policy measures in China and a strong yen weighed down on Asian equities. European stocks also remained under pressure.
In commodities, gold continued its strength while crude oil inched lower as risk aversion resulting from economic uncertainty prompted a flight of capital to safe havens from risk assets.
In stocks in news, Google Inc will invest in an undersea power cable project off the U.S. Atlantic coast in cooperation with Japanese trading house Marubeni Corp, the two companies said Tuesday.
While Microsoft will launch phone handsets operating on its Windows Phone 7 mobile operating system in 10 Asian countries in the next six months as it seeks to carve out a share of the highly competitive market for smartphones in the region.
Early in the morning, Johnson Controls Inc. projected revenue for the new fiscal year above analysts' expectations as the maker of auto parts and air systems for buildings sees results continuing to grow.
