US pre-open: Futures in the red as June trading gets off to a rocky start

(Sharecast News) - Wall Street futures were in the red ahead of the bell on Tuesday as June trading gets off to a rocky start. As of 1225 BST, Dow Jones futures were down 0.42%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.46% and 0.44% weaker, respectively.

The Dow closed 115.29 points lower on Monday as the blue chip index failed to build upon May's solid gains in the first session of the new month.

Weak manufacturing data continued to weigh on sentiment early on Tuesday as market participants wait to see if growth can carry on long enough as the Federal Reserve looks to see inflation decline further in order to make cuts to its base interest rate.

Trade Nation's David Morisson said: "The sellers have the upper hand this morning, and all the majors were weaker first thing. This kind of indecisiveness can be an indication that a trend may be coming to an end. That's not to say that we won't see higher prices, as anything is possible. But we're certainly in an environment which feels quite different from that in the first quarter of this year, and investors need to be extremely vigilant now.

"Investor confidence took a knock from yesterday's disappointing ISM Manufacturing PMI. This came in below expectations, while falling further below the 50 level, indicating contraction across the sector. There's an update on ISM Services on Wednesday. While a pull-back in US economic data helps bolster the likelihood of Fed rate cuts, it does so for all the wrong reasons. If this were to continue, then investors will be encouraged to take money out of stocks and seek out alternatives."

Also in focus, the yield on the benchmark ten-year Treasury note, and its two-year counterpart, was down 0.008 points at 4.387% and 4.808%, respectively.

On the macro front, April factory orders data and JOLTS job openings figures will be out at 1500 ST.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com