United States stock futures held steady on Monday night (Tuesday AEST) as investors awaited further developments in trade discussions between the United States and China.
By 9:10 am AEST (11:10 pm GMT), Dow Jones Industrial Average futures, S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures were trading less than 0.1% higher.
In after-hours trading, vaccine-related stocks came under pressure after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced significant changes to federal vaccine advisory personnel.
In a Wall Street Journal opinion piece published Monday, Kennedy said he would dismiss all 17 members of the Advisory Committee on Immunisation Practices (ACIP), a group that provides guidance to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
Following the announcement, AstraZeneca dropped 0.5%, and Moderna fell 0.9%.
The subdued futures movement followed a relatively muted day on Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended flat, while the S&P 500 rose 0.1% and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.3%.
On the economic front, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s latest consumer expectations survey showed a broad decline in inflation outlooks.
One-year inflation expectations dropped to 3.2% in May from 3.6% in April. The three-year and five-year expectations also declined, to 3.0% and 2.6%, respectively.
Looking ahead, investors will be watching for small business sentiment data, ahead of key inflation figures later in the week.
On the corporate front, quarterly earnings are expected Tuesday from J.M. Smucker Co. and GameStop.
