Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, July 20, 2023.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
Stock futures are near flat Tuesday night as investors came off a losing session that marked the latest leg down in an August slump.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average added five points, trading near the flatline. S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures were also both little changed.
Tax preparer H&R Block and Mediterranean food chain Cava advanced 5% and 8%, respectively, after the bell on the back of stronger-than-expected quarterly reports.
The moves follow a losing session on Wall Street, with all three of the major indexes finishing more than 1% lower on Tuesday. With the losses, the Dow snapped a three-day winning streak and the S&P 500 ended the session below its 50-day moving average, which could signal a downturn ahead.
Financial stocks including JPMorgan, Wells Fargo and Bank of America slid after Fitch warned it may be forced to downgrade the credit ratings of dozens of banks. It comes as the latest challenges to the sector, following Moody’s decision last week to downgrade the ratings of 10 banks while putting other institutions on a watchlist.
Regional bank shares also struggled following commentary around further capital regulation from Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkari. The SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF (KRE) ended the session 3.3% lower.
Additionally, economic news out of China weighed on investor sentiment. Retail sales and industrial production both grew less than economists expected, according to data released Tuesday. The country’s central bank also issued an interest rate cut.
Tuesday brought “a smattering of just not necessarily positive developments,” said Keith Buchanan, senior portfolio manager at Globalt Investments. “It’s just the mosaic overall coming together to paint a pretty negative picture.”
With just over half of August left, the three major indexes are on pace to see a losing month. The Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 are on track to end 5% and 3.3% lower, respectively, while the Dow is slated to drop 1.7%.
Investors will watch Wednesday for economic data on housing, industrial production and capacity utilization. They will also watch for the latest batch of retail corporate earnings, with Target and TJX Companies expected to report before the bell.
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