U.S. indices declined in premarket trading as Wall Street’s record-breaking rally appeared to lose some steam despite strong quarterly performances from high-profile companies.
Futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average each fell 0.4% before the bell Tuesday.
The S&P, Dow Jones and Nasdaq are still up between nearly 5% and 7% over the past three months on indications that the U.S. economy is humming.
General Motors rose less than 1% after the Detroit automaker managed to post a third-quarter profit of $3 billion despite slowing U.S. sales and a big loss at a once-reliably profitable joint venture in China. GM beat Wall Street's sales and profit projections and narrowed its full-year net income guidance.
GE Aerospace, which began trading independently this spring after splitting off from the former conglomerate General Electric, fell 3.5% even though it posted strong third-quarter profit and raised its fourth-quarter guidance significantly.
German software giant SAP rose 3.3% after it nudged past profit expectations, while personal protective gear and industrial coatings company 3M climbed 4.7% after it topped Wall Street's third-quarter sales and profit targets.
“The next two weeks are set to be a wild ride," said Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management. “Volatility has surged across stocks, bonds, and currencies as investors brace for a perfect storm of risks: a hotly contested U.S. election, critical interest-rate decisions in both the U.S. and Europe, the looming threat of a wider Middle East conflict, and the ever-present pressure of quarterly earnings.”
Wall Street’s rally to record highs this year has been fueled by hopes the U.S. economy can escape from the worst inflation in generations without a painful recession that many believed to be inevitable.
With the Federal Reserve now cutting interest rates to keep the economy vibrant, optimists see stocks rising even further. Naysayers, however, see an overpriced market where the rosing cost of U.S. stocks has outpaced corporate profits.
More than 100 companies in the S&P 500 are scheduled to release details this week about their performances during the summer. That includes such heavyweights as AT&T, Coca-Cola, IBM and Tesla.
At midday, France’s CAC 40 lost 0.5%, while the German DAX fell back 0.2%. Britain’s FTSE 100 was down 0.6%.
In Asian trading, Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 dropped 1.4% to finish at 38,411.96. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.7% to 8,205.70, while South Korea's Kospi slipped 1.3% to 2,570.70.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.1% to 20,498.95 and the Shanghai Composite rose 0.5% to 3,285.87 following a cut to interest rates that took effect on Monday.
Benchmark U.S. crude picked up 67 cents to $70.71 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 62 cents to $74.91 a barrel.
The U.S. dollar rose to 150.80 Japanese yen from 150.69 yen. The euro was up to $1.0824 from $1.0819.
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