Futures Pointing To Roughly Flat Open On Wall Street

(RTTNews) - The major U.S. index futures are currently pointing to a roughly flat open on Tuesday, with stocks likely to show a lack of direction after ending the previous session mostly higher.

Traders may be reluctant to make significant moves as they keep an eye on developments on Washington, where lawmakers once again failed to pass a temporary spending bill last night.

While traders have largely shrugged off the government shutdown in recent sessions, the subsequent lack of major U.S. economic data may keep some investors on the sidelines.

Remarks by several Federal Reserve officials may attract attention, as traders look to their words for clues about the outlook for interest rates.

Following the mixed performance seen during last Friday's session, stocks moved mostly higher over the course of the trading day on Monday. With the upward move, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 reached new record closing highs.

The Nasdaq climbed 161.81 points or 0.7 percent to 22,941.67 and the S&P 500 rose 24.49 points or 0.4 percent to 6,740.28, although the narrower Dow bucked the uptrend and edged down 63.31 points or 0.1 percent to 46,694.97.

The strength in the markets largely reflected a rally by semiconductor stocks, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor index surging by 2.9 percent to a record closing high.

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) led the sector higher, soaring by 23.7 percent after the chipmaker announced a 6 gigawatt agreement to power OpenAI's next-generation AI infrastructure across multiple generations of AMD Instinct GPUs.

As part of the agreement, AMD has issued OpenAI a warrant for up to 160 million shares of AMD common stock, structured to vest as specific milestones are achieved.

Gold stocks also saw considerable strength amid a sharp increase by the price of the precious metal, with the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index jumping by 1.9 percent.

Significant strength was also visible among software stocks, while housing and commercial real estate stocks moved notably lower over the course of the session.

Meanwhile, traders continued to shrug off concerns about the economic impact of the ongoing government shutdown.

Commodity, Currency Markets

Crude oil futures are slipping $0.13 to $61.56 a barrel after advancing $0.81 to $61.69 a barrel on Monday. Meanwhile, after soaring $67.40 to $3,976.30 an ounce in the previous session, gold futures are rising $11.70 to $3,988 an ounce.

On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 159.88 yen compared to the 150.35 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Monday. Against the euro, the dollar is trading at $1.1664 compared to yesterday's $1.1709.

Asia

Asian stocks ended mixed on Tuesday as the U.S. government shutdown dragged on and French political turmoil deepened.

Trading volumes were thin as many regional markets, including China, Hong Kong and South Korea remained closed for holidays.

Japanese markets gave up early gains to end on a flat note as the yield on Japan's 30-year government bond rose to a record high and 10-year yields marked fresh 17-year peaks amid bets on a revival in big spending and loose monetary policy.

Meanwhile, investors cheered data that showed Japanese household spending rose at a faster pace than expected in August.

The Nikkei 225 Index hit a new peak before giving up all gains to end little changed at 47,950.88. The broader Topix Index also ended on a flat note at 3,227.91.

Tech shares followed their U.S. peers high, with Advantest rising 0.6 percent and SoftBank Group adding 1.1 percent.

Australian markets ended lower, with discretionary stocks coming under selling pressure after a survey showed Australian consumer confidence slipped to a six-month low in October amid renewed doubts about prospects for future interest rate cuts.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index slipped 0.3 percent to 8,956.80, while the broader All Ordinaries Index closed 0.3 percent lower at 9,253.60. Breville lost 4.5 percent and JB Hi-Fi declined 1.5 percent.

Across the Tasman, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX-50 Index rose 0.3 percent to 13,531.29, hitting its highest level since early 2021 ahead of a central bank decision this week, with investors widely anticipating a cut to the official cash rate.

Europe

European shares are subdued on Tuesday, with a deepening political crisis in France and weak factory orders data from Germany weighing on markets.

A government shake-up in France rattled bond yields across Europe, with the German 10-year bond yield, the benchmark for the euro zone bloc, rising 1.4 basis points to 2.73 percent.

German factory orders decreased 0.8 percent on a monthly basis in August following a 2.7 percent slump in July, according to data released by Destatis. This was in contrast to the anticipated increase of 1.2 percent. Excluding large orders, new orders were 3.3 percent lower than in the previous month.

While the German DAX Index is up by 0.2 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index are both up by 0.3 percent.

Healthcare stocks traded lower, with Germany's Bayer tumbling 4 percent and Denmark's Novo Nordisk falling 2 percent.

British oil giant Shell rose nearly 2 percent in London after updating its Q3 2025 outlook.

Imperial Brands rallied 3 percent. The maker of Winston cigarettes and e-cigarette brand blu has announced an additional 1.45-billion-pound ($1.95 billion) share buyback plan.

Construction company Skanska jumped 4.5 percent and wind turbine manufacturer Nordex rose 1 percent on securing new orders.

Great Portland Estates fell about 1 percent despite reporting strong leasing activity in the first half of its financial year.

Discount retailer B&M European Value Retail slumped 10 percent after a profit warning.

U.S. Economic News

Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael Bostic is scheduled to participate in a discussion on the economic outlook at event hosted by Fisk University at 10 am ET.

At 10:05 am ET, Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman is due to deliver welcoming remarks at the 2025 Community Banking Research Conference.

Federal Reserve Governor Stephen Miran is scheduled to participate in a conversation before the Managed Funds Association Policy Outlook 2025 at 10:45 am ET.

At 11:30 am ET, Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkari is due to participate in a conversation on artificial intelligence and the economy before the Star Tribune North Star Summit 2025.

The Treasury Department is scheduled to announce the results of this month's auction of $58 billion worth of three-year notes at 1 pm ET.

At 3 pm ET, the Federal Reserve is due to release its report on consumer credit in the month of August. Consumer credit is expected to increase by $13.5 billion in August after climbing by $16.0 billion in July.

Federal Reserve Governor Stephen Miran is due to participate in a conversation at the Deutsche Bank 2025 Fall Macro Conference at 4:05 pm ET.