U.S. Stocks May Continue To Experience Choppy Trading

(RTTNews) - After ending yesterday's choppy trading session little changed, stocks may turn in another lackluster performance in early trading on Tuesday. The major index futures are currently pointing to a roughly flat open on Wall Street, with the S&P 500 futures down by less than a tenth of a percent.

Traders may remain reluctant to make significant moves ahead of some key economic events later in the week, including the release of the minutes of the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy meeting on Wednesday and the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium that gets underway on Thursday.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is scheduled to speak at the symposium on Friday, with his remarks potentially impacting the outlook for interest rates.

According to CME Group's FedWatch Tool, there is an 83.1 percent chance the Fed will lower interest rates by a quarter point at its next monetary policy meeting in September.

Reports on weekly jobless claims, existing home sales and leading economic indicators may also attract some attention in the coming days.

On the U.S. economic front, the Commerce Department released a report this morning unexpectedly showing a sharp increase by new residential construction in the U.S. in the month of July.

The Commerce Department said housing starts surged by 5.2 percent to an annual rate of 1.428 million in July after spiking by 5.9 percent to an upwardly revised rate of 1.358 million in June.

Economists had expected housing starts to slump by 2.4 percent to an annual rate of 1.290 million from the 1.321 million originally reported for the previous month.

Meanwhile, the report said building permits tumbled by 2.8 percent to an annual rate of 1.354 million in July after edging down by 0.1 percent to a downwardly revised rate of 1.393 million in June.

Building permits, an indicator of future housing demand, were expected to fall by 0.5 percent to an annual rate of 1.390 million from the 1.397 million originally reported for the previous month.

Following back-to-back positive weeks, stocks showed a lack of direction over the course of the trading session on Monday. The major averages spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before eventually closing little changed.

While the tech-heavy Nasdaq inched up 6.80 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 21,629.77, the S&P 500 edged down 0.65 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 6,449.15 and the Dow slipped 34.30 points or 0.1 percent to 44,911.82.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower during trading on Tuesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index fell by 0.4 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index dipped by 0.2 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets have moved to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index is up by 1.0 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the German DAX Index are both up by 0.3 percent.

In commodities trading, crude oil futures are falling $0.70 to $62.72 a barrel after climbing $0.62 to $63.42 a barrel on Monday. Meanwhile, after edging down $4.60 to $3,378 an ounce in the previous session, gold futures are inching up $2.80 to $3,380.80 an ounce.

On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 147.76 yen compared to the 147.89 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Monday. Against the euro, the dollar is trading at $1.1677 compared to yesterday's $1.1661.