WASHINGTON: U.S. stock futures inched up Tuesday, as traders focused on Independence Day celebrations rather than making big bets. American stock exchanges and the bond market are closed for the holiday, after trading hours were shortened Monday. S&P 500 futures ESU7, +0.07% rose by 4.50 points, or 0.2%, to 2,429.50, while Dow Jones Industrial Average futures YMU7, +0.05% gained 10 points, or less than 0.1%, to 21,446.00, after the S&P SPX, +0.23% and Dow DJIA, +0.61% scored modest gains in Monday’s session. Futures for the tech-heavy Nasdaq-100 NQU7, -0.02% tacked on 22.25 points, or 0.4%, to 5,611.50, after the Nasdaq Composite COMP, -0.49% bucked Monday’s positive trend and dropped 0.5% for that session.
U.S. stock futures didn’t look fazed that much by North Korea’s claim Tuesday that it successfully test-launched an intercontinental ballistic missile, in what would be a major advance in the isolated nation’s attempts to threaten the U.S. with a nuclear weapon. But South Korean stocks SEU, +0.35% closed lower following the news, and gold futures GCQ7, +0.44% and the Japanese yen JPYUSD, +0.072439% were gaining on demand for assets seen as less risky. “The market reaction to geopolitical tensions may be elevated slightly with the U.S. on public holiday for Independence Day,” said Richard Perry, a Hantec Markets analyst, in a note. “However, once the moves begin to settle, the market is likely to view the rebounds on the safe haven plays such as gold and the yen as another chance to sell,” Perry added.
Stock futures also were weathering a Nasdaq data mishap that occurred after the U.S. equity market’s close on Monday. Huge price moves for Apple Inc. AAPL, -0.36% , Amazon.com Inc. AMZN, -1.48% and other stocks erroneously appeared on Google Finance, Yahoo Finance and Bloomberg, and the Nasdaq exchange later said that happened because test data were apparently mistakenly disseminated by third-party providers to those financial websites.
