(Reuters) – The S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures dipped on Tuesday as worries over a slowing economic recovery overshadowed hopes that the Federal Reserve would maintain its accommodative stance a little longer after a soft U.S. payrolls report.
Microsoft Corp, Amazon.com Inc and Facebook Inc eased about 0.2% each, while Apple Inc and Google-owner Alphabet Inc were slightly higher. Markets were shut on Monday for the Labor Day holiday.
Tracking benchmark bond yields higher, banks including Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and JP Morgan rose between 0.4% and 0.5%.
The Nasdaq hit a record high on Friday, while the other two main indexes posted small declines, reflecting mixed sentiment stemming from a disappointing U.S. jobs report.
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq have gained around 1.5% each since Aug. 27 following dovish commentary from Fed Chair Jerome Powell at the Jackson Hole Symposium where he again said that a stable job market was an essential goal for the central bank to start pulling back monetary support.
Easy central bank policies and re-opening optimism have pushed the benchmark indexes to multiple record highs over the past few weeks, but concerns over rising Delta coronavirus infections and its impact on the economic recovery could impede the rally.
At 6:44 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 4 points, or 0.01%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 2.5 points, or 0.06%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 23.75 points, or 0.15%.
Oil companies Halliburton, Occidental Petroleum and Exxon Mobil were flat to 0.3% lower.
Columbia Property Trust Inc jumped 15.8% after Pacific Investment Management Company (PIMCO) said it would buy the company for $2.2 billion. [L4N2Q92J1]
(Reporting by Shashank Nayar in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva)
