US equity futures were mostly trending lower before Tuesday's open, as investors parse Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's latest remarks about monetary policy and await fresh labor market data. The Standard & Poor's 500 edged down 0.1% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was off 0.3%, while the Nasdaq was up 0.2% in premarket activity.
The majority of Asian and European exchanges were pointing higher. Powell on Monday said monetary policy is not on a "preset course," with any further adjustment in interest rates to be determined by incoming economic data on a meeting-by-meeting basis. Traders await the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey for August scheduled to be released at 10 am ET, while the ADP Employment report for September is due on Wednesday.
The Challenger Job Cut data for September is out Thursday, and the government's nonfarm payroll data for the same month is scheduled to be released on Friday. Tuesday's economic calendar also has the September purchasing managers' index for manufacturing from S&P Global at 9:45 am, followed by the Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing index for the same month and the construction spending report for August at 10 am.
Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic is slated to speak at 11 am. Paychex, McCormick, Acuity Brands and United Natural Foods report their latest financial results before the bell, among others. Nike, Lamb Weston and Cal-Maine Foods post earnings after markets close. Before the opening bell, bitcoin gained 0.7% to $63,915, West Texas Intermediate crude oil declined 0.6% to $67.75 a barrel, yields on 10-year Treasuries dropped 5.9 basis points to 3.74% and gold rose 0.4% to $2,670 an ounce..