Stock futures oscillated near the zero line on Tuesday evening as traders awaited the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting and sought further insight into the prospects for a rate cut.

Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 23 points. S&P 500 futures were almost unchanged, while futures tied to the Nasdaq-100 fell less than 0.1 percent.

Stocks are coming off a losing streak, with both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite ending their longest winning streaks since the end of 2023. The broad-based S&P 500 lost 0.2%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq slipped 0.33%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.15%.

Tuesday’s moves follow a difficult period for stocks after a weak U.S. jobs report and a Bank of Japan interest rate hike sparked a global sell-off on Aug. 5. That day, the CBOE volatility index rose to its highest level since the pandemic-hit stock market in 2020. Stocks have recovered since the market turmoil, with strong retail sales and a weaker-than-expected inflation report last week helping to ease recession fears.

In addition to the minutes of the Fed’s July meeting, Wall Street is eagerly awaiting commentary from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. The Fed chairman is expected to speak at the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium on Friday and could provide further guidance on the Fed’s next interest rate decision at the September meeting.

“For us, the key tone will be that of President Powell, who we expect to be dovish,” said Jack Janasiewicz, senior portfolio strategist at Natixis Investment Managers Solutions. “Put simply, inflation continues to trend toward the 2% target and appears to be exceeding consensus. Combine that with signs that the labor market is weakening, and it seems there is little reason to maintain an aggressive stance.”

As for earnings on Wednesday, traders will be keeping an eye on quarterly reports from TJX Companies, Target and Analog Devices.

NYU’s Damodaran says Amazon is a “better buy” than Nvidia

If forced to buy a stock today, NYU’s Aswath Damodaran would choose Amazon over Nvidia.

“If you’re an investor who wants to bet on a mega-technology company, I think Amazon is a better investment than Nvidia,” finance professors at New York University’s Stern School of Business told CNBC’s “Closing Bell: Overtime” on Tuesday.

“Perhaps trading is different, but I think if I had to buy a stock now given earnings and cash flows, I would rather own Amazon,” he said, adding that Nvidia stock appears overvalued.

— Samantha Subin

Stock prices moving in night trading

These are the stocks with the biggest price movements after the market close:

• Toll Brothers – Shares rose 1% after the homebuilder beat Wall Street earnings expectations in its fiscal third quarter. Toll Brothers also raised its full-year delivery forecast.
• Microchip Technology – Shares of the microcontroller maker fell about 2%. The company said in a regulatory filing that it had detected “potentially suspicious activity” in its IT systems that was impacting some operations.
• Keysight Technologies – The test equipment maker’s stock rose more than 10%. Keysight issued solid fourth-quarter revenue guidance, with the top end of the range beating analyst estimates.

The full list can be found here.

— Samantha Subin

Stock futures open unchanged

Stock futures opened unchanged on Tuesday evening.

Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 15 points. S&P 500 futures and futures tied to the Nasdaq 100 were almost unchanged.

— Samantha Subin