Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange during morning trading on November 7, 2024 in New York City.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images
Stock futures fell early Tuesday as geopolitical tensions weighed on sentiment, while investors awaited key earnings from retailers and chip makers. Nvidia this week.
Linked futures contracts Dow Jones Industrial Average It fell 245 points, or 0.6%. Standard & Poor's futures It decreased by about 0.4%, while Nasdaq 100 futures It traded down 0.3%.
The declines come after Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the United States on Tuesday that the threshold for using nuclear weapons had lowered. Under the new doctrine, Russia would consider using such weapons if it – or its allies – were met with “the use of conventional weapons that created a serious threat to its sovereignty and (or) territorial integrity.”
The new position comes after President Joe Biden allowed Ukraine to use American weapons to strike Russia inside Russia.
Investors sought protection amid rising tensions. The Cboe Volatility Index (VIX), considered Wall Street's best “fear gauge,” rose above 16. Gold futures rose nearly 1%, and Treasury yields fell.
This comes as traders await key earnings from Walmart, which is scheduled to be announced on Tuesday. The report can give investors insight into consumer health.
Nvidia is also scheduled to publish its latest quarterly numbers on Wednesday. All eyes will be on how much demand the company indicates for its Blackwell AI chips.
About 93% of S&P 500 companies have reported quarterly results so far, beating three-quarters of expectations and more than 60% of revenue estimates, according to FactSet.
Wall Street is coming out of a mixed session. The Nasdaq rose 0.6%, snapping a four-day losing streak, while the S&P 500 added about 0.4%. The Dow Jones fell about 55 points, or 0.1%, marking three consecutive down sessions for the 30-stock index. Last week, a post-election sell-off was sparked by concerns about the future path of interest rates as the economy and labor market strengthen.
“The market has been in an uptrend due to the strong economy, the Fed continuing to cut interest rates, and strong third-quarter earnings,” said Andrew Solomon, head of the Applied Equity Advisors team at Morgan Stanley Investment Management. “The market is well positioned for stocks, and investors will not see the pullback they want.”
