(RTTNews) - After ending yesterday's choppy session narrowly mixed, stocks are likely to move to the downside in early trading on Tuesday. The major index futures are currently pointing to a lower open for the markets, with the S&P 500 futures down by 0.7 percent.
Technology stocks are likely to lead the way lower, as reflected by the 1.3 percent slump by the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures.
Companies tied to artificial intelligence infrastructure are likely to come under pressure after a report from the Wall Street Journal said OpenAI recently missed its own targets for new users and revenue.
Citing people familiar with the matter, the WSJ said the stumbles have raised concern among some company leaders about whether OpenAI will be able to support its massive spending on data centers.
Oracle (ORCL), which has a massive, multi-year partnership with OpenAI to build AI infrastructure, is plunging by 6.5 percent in pre-market trading.
Chipmakers Nvidia (NVDA), Broadcom (AVGO), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Qualcomm (QCOM) are also seeing notable pre-market weakness.
Concerns about the ongoing conflict between the U.S. and Iran may also weigh on Wall Street, as the Trump administration seemed unlikely to accept Iran's proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end the war, while setting aside discussions on Iran's nuclear program.
Not long after the start of trading, the Conference Board is scheduled to release its report on consumer confidence in the month of April. The consumer confidence index is expected to drop to 89.4 in Apri from 91.8 in March.
Following the strength seen during last Friday's session, stocks turned in a relatively lackluster performance during trading on Monday. The major averages spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before eventually closing narrowly mixed.
While the Nasdaq rose 50.50 points or 0.2 percent to 24,887.10 and the S&P 500 inched up 8.83 points or 0.1 percent to 7,173.91, reaching new record closing highs, the Dow edged down 62.92 points or 0.1 percent to 49,167.79.
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower during trading on Tuesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index both slumped by 1 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index dipped by 0.2 percent.
The major European markets have also moved to the downside on the day. The German DAX Index is down by 0.7 percent, the French CAC 40 Index is down by 0.6 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is down by 0.2 percent.
In commodities trading, crude oil futures are soaring $3.71 to $100.08 a barrel after jumping $1.97 to $96.37 a barrel on Monday. Meanwhile, after slumping $47.20 to $4,693.70 ounce in the previous session, gold futures are tumbling $98.20 to $4,595.50 an ounce.
On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 159.52 yen compared to the 159.42 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Monday. Against the euro, the dollar is trading at $1.1696 compared to yesterday's $1.1720.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
