U.S. markets fell before the close on Tuesday as investors awaited a plethora of labor market data due to be released this week.
Futures for the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average were each down about 0.3% before the close.
Several companies are still reporting earnings ahead of the week’s highlight event, the May employment report on Friday.
Bath & Body Works Inc. slumped more than 7% before the close, even though the company beat Wall Street’s first-quarter sales and profit targets and raised its guidance. The improved forecast, which still hinted at a possible sales decline, wasn’t enough to stop investors from dumping the stock.
Designer Brands, owner of the Designer Shoe Warehouse store chain, saw its shares fall more than 9 percent after its first-quarter profit fell short of analysts’ expectations.
The U.S. government will report later Tuesday how many jobs companies had open at the end of April. The government’s weekly layoff report is released on Thursday, and Friday’s jobs report will provide an overall picture of job growth and worker wages that the Federal Reserve will consider when it meets later this month.
Meanwhile, India’s Sensex index fell as much as 8 percent in early trading as investors who had bought shares after exit polls showed Prime Minister Narendra Modi had won a third term sold them to lock in profits.
By mid-afternoon, Mumbai’s Sensex index was down 5.7% at 72,079.05 after results from the country’s six-week-old general election showed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s National Democratic Alliance party comfortably ahead of its nearest rival, but his party appeared to have a lower-than-expected number of seats.
In midday trading on European markets, Germany’s DAX index was down 0.7%, Paris’ CAC 40 index was down 0.4% and Britain’s FTSE 100 index was down 0.3%.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei stock average fell 0.2% to 38,837.46, while Seoul’s KOSPI dropped 0.8% to 2,662.10.
Chinese stocks recovered from early losses after reports the property market was stabilising, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rising 0.2% to 18,444.11 and the Shanghai Composite Index rising 0.4% to 3,091.20.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.3% to 7,737.10, while Taiwan’s Taiex fell 0.8%.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note was steady at 4.38% early Tuesday, having fallen to 4.39% on Monday from Friday’s close of 4.50%.
Benchmark U.S. crude oil prices fell $1.38 to $72.84 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange early Tuesday.
Brent crude, the international standard, fell $1.24 to $77.12 a barrel.
The dollar weakened as doubts about the U.S. economy raised hopes the Federal Reserve would cut interest rates this year. The dollar fell to 154.89 yen from 156.10 yen. The euro fell to 1.0866 dollars from 1.0904 dollars.
U.S. stocks ended mixed on Monday.
The S&P 500 rose 0.1%, the Dow fell 0.3% and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.6%.
