US pre-open: Futures point to small losses ahead of Powell testimony

US futures had stocks opening slightly lower on Tuesday as market participants took a moment to catch their breath following Monday's sharp rally.

As of 1230 BST, Dow and S&P 500 futures had the indices opening 0.16% and 0.23% lower, respectively, while Nasdaq-100 futures were up 0.01%.

The Dow closed 911.95 points higher on Monday after Jerome Powell said he was optimistic of the US economy's ability to bounce back from the Covid-19 pandemic and some positive data from Moderna Therapeutics' second phase clinical trial on a vaccine candidate for the novel coronavirus both lifted sentiment.

Tuesday's main focus will be testimony from Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell and Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin on the coronavirus' economic impact before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs at 1500 BST.

SpreadEx's Connor Campbell said the small pre-market losses were most likely a result of investors "struggling to justify any immediate growth after the triple-digits gains managed on Monday".

On the macro front, monthly building permits and housing starts data will be out at 1330 BST, while monthly Redbook data will be published at 1355 BST.

Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren will speak at 1900 BST.

In the corporate space, Home Depot shares were down in pre-market trading after revealing that last quarter net income had dropped 10.7% due to Covid-19 related costs, while Walmart shares were up ahead of the bell on the back of a surge in first-quarter e-commerce sales.