U.S. Stocks May Give Back Ground In Early Trading

Stocks may move to the downside in early trading on Tuesday, giving back ground after trending higher over the past several sessions. The major index futures are currently pointing to a modestly lower open for the markets, with the S&P 500 futures down by 0.2 percent.

Traders may look to cash in on the recent strength in the markets, which partly reflected optimism that the Federal Reserve is done raising interest rates.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq has closed higher for seven consecutive sessions, while the Dow and the S&P 500 have closed higher for six straight sessions.

The Dow inched slightly higher on Monday, with the uptick lifting the blue chip index to its highest closing level in well over a month.

Overall trading activity may remain somewhat subdued, however, as traders look ahead to speeches by Fed Chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday and Thursday.

Powell is due to deliver opening remarks at the Division of Research and Statistics Centennial Conference on Wednesday and participate in a policy panel discussion before the 24th Jacques Polak Annual Research Conference on Thursday.

Traders are likely to pay close attention to Powell’s remarks, looking for additional confirmation the Fed will leave interest rates unchanged for the foreseeable future.

In U.S. economic news, a report released by the Commerce Department showed the U.S. trade deficit widened by more than expected in the month of September.

The Commerce Department said the trade deficit increased to $61.5 billion from a revised $58.7 billion in August. Economists had expected the trade deficit to climb to $60.2 billion from the $58.3 billion originally reported for the previous month.

The wider than expected deficit came as the value of imports surged by 2.7 percent to $322.7 billion, while the value of exports jumped by 2.2 percent to $261.1 billion.

After moving sharply higher over the course of the previous week, stocks turned in a relatively lackluster performance during trading on Monday. The major averages…