U.S. Stocks May Give Back Ground After Yesterday's Rally

(RTTNews) - Following the rally seen over the course of the previous session, stocks may give back ground in early trading on Tuesday. The major index futures are currently pointing to a slightly lower open for the markets, with the S&P 500 futures down by 0.1 percent.

Profit taking may contribute to initial weakness on Wall Street after the strong upward move seen on Monday, which lifted the Dow to a new record closing high.

A continued increase by the price of crude oil may also generate some negative sentiment, as U.S. crude oil futures climb by 0.6 percent after surging by 2.2 percent on Monday.

The extended rebound by crude oil prices comes amid conflicting messages about a new round of talks between the U.S. and Iran.

While President Donald Trump claimed a meeting is set to be held in Qatar today, a spokesperson for Iran's Foreign Ministry reportedly denied that talks were scheduled.

However, traders may be reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of some key U.S. economic data in the coming days, including the closely watched monthly jobs report.

Not long after the start of trading, MNI Indicators is due to release its report on Chicago-area manufacturing activity in the month of June.

The Chicago business barometer is expected to slump to 55.4 in June after soaring to 62.7 in May, although a reading above 50 would still indicate growth.

The Labor Department is also scheduled to release its report on job openings in the month of May at 10 am ET. Job openings are expected to decrease to 7.298 million in May from 7.618 million in April.

Additionally, the Conference Board is due to release its report on consumer sentiment in the month of June. The consumer confidence index is expected to rise to 94.8 in June after slipping to 93.1 in May.

After seeing significant volatility early in the session, stocks moved sharply higher over the course of the trading day on Monday. The major averages all moved to the upside, with the Dow reaching a new record closing high above 52,000.

The Dow gave back some ground late in the day, but the Nasdaq and S&P 500 closed near their session highs. The Nasdaq surged 522.53 points or 2.1 percent to 25,820.14, the S&P 500 jumped 86.41 points or 1.2 percent to 7,440.43 and the Dow climbed 306.63 points or 0.6 percent to 52,182.74.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance during trading on Tuesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index advanced by 0.9 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slid by 0.6 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets have all moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index is up by 1.3 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.8 percent and the French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.2 percent.

In commodities trading, crude oil futures are climbing $0.43 to $71.18 a barrel after jumping $1.52 to $70.75 a barrel on Monday. Meanwhile, after tumbling $57.40 to $4,038.90 ounce in the previous session, gold futures are slipping $8.80 to $4,030.10 an ounce.

On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 162.40 yen compared to the 161.94 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Monday. Against the euro, the dollar is trading at $1.1395 compared to yesterday's $1.1420.