(RTTNews.com) - After coming under pressure over the course of the previous session, stocks may see some further downside in early trading on Tuesday. The major index futures are currently pointing to a lower open for the markets, with the Dow futures down by 63 points. The downward momentum for the markets comes as traders continue to digest yesterday's better than expected reading on manufacturing activity. The report from the Institute for Supply Management, which showed that the reading on national manufacturing activity unexpectedly rose to a two-year high in November, has led to concerns about the outlook for the Federal Reserve's stimulus program. Traders seem worried that additional upbeat economic data may lead the Fed to begin scaling back its asset purchases as early as its next monetary policy meeting in two weeks. Nonetheless, today's activity may be somewhat subdued amid a lack of major U.S. economic data, with traders likely looking ahead to the release of a slew of data in the coming days. While the release of the Labor Department's monthly jobs report on Friday is in the spotlight, reports on private sector employment, new home sales, and service sector activity are also likely to attract attention. Peter Boockvar, chief market analyst at the Lindsey Group, said, "After the impressive gains seen just over the past month, anything would be enough to see a breather in stocks but there is nothing more relevant than a rise in rates in reevaluating equity investment positions." "This of course points to the importance of Friday's payroll figure," he added. "With respect to the U.S. economic data overall, the outlook is still very mixed." After seeing volatility throughout the morning, stocks came under pressure in afternoon trading on Monday. Worries about the outlook for monetary policy weighed on the markets following the upbeat reading on manufacturing activity. The major averages saw further downside in the final hour of trading but closed off their worst levels of the day. The Dow slid 77.64 points or 0.5 percent to 16,008.77, the Nasdaq fell 14.63 points or 0.4 percent to 4,045.26 and the S&P 500 dipped 4.91 points or 0.3 percent to 1,800.90. In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in another mixed performance during trading on Tuesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index advanced by 0.6 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell by 0.5 percent. Meanwhile, the major European markets have all moved to the downside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is down by 0.7 percent, the German DAX Index is down by 1.1 percent and the French CAC 40 Index is down by 1.7 percent. In commodities trading, crude oil futures are climbing $0.15 to $93.97 a barrel after advancing $1.10 to $93.82 a barrel on Monday. Gold futures are rising $1 to $1,222.90 an ounce. In the previous session, gold tumbled $28.50 to $1,221.90 an ounce. Among currencies, the U.S. dollar is trading at 102.59 yen compared to the 102.94 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Monday. Against the euro, the dollar is valued at $1.3576 compared to yesterday's $1.3542.

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