Investors will have to be satisfied with small gains because that appears to be all that is available on the Australian Securities Exchange when trading opens on Tuesday.
But it will not be enough to make up for the losses of the previous day, as a weaker night on Wall Street weighs on ASX-listed companies.
The benchmark ASX 200 index should start 0.1% higher than the previous close at 10 am AEDT (11 pm GMT Monday) according to futures trading, which quoted the December share price index contract six points over the previous settlement at 8,589 points at the time of writing.
A rise in Treasury bond yields and signs of manufacturing sector weakness pressured stocks in New York, pushing the major indices lower on Monday (Tuesday AEDT).
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.9%, the S&P 500 dropped 0.5% and the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.4%.
The Federal Reserve is expected to cut interest rates this month.
“The market actually is still obviously earnings-driven, we went through earnings season, but now it's the Fed," Themis Trading Co-founder, Head of Equity Market Structure Research and Co-head of Equity Trading Joe Saluzzi said in a Reuters story.
"I see no reason why the uptrend doesn't continue, at least, not as quickly, but maybe more of a grind up to the end of the year."
The ASX had slipped on Monday on a day marred by a major technical outage during the morning, with the S&P/ASX 200 losing 0.6% to close at 8,565.2 points.
Companies to watch include Collins Foods (ASX: CKF), which has issued its half-year results and Bank of Queensland (ASX: BOQ), which holds its annual general meeting, while economic data includes building approvals, government finance statistics and the balance of payments.
In the bond markets, yields on Australian Government bonds rose, with two-year rates gaining 1.00% to 3.857% and 10-year rates adding 2.05% to 4.478%.
