U.S. equity futures dipped slightly Tuesday evening as what had looked like a nascent recovery in technology stocks showed signs of fragility. Trading was cautious as market participants awaited a sequence of economic data releases and the Federal Reserve's minutes from its January meeting for further guidance on interest-rate policy.
By 19:55 ET (00:55 GMT), S&P 500 Futures were down 0.1% at 6,851.50 points, Nasdaq 100 Futures slipped 0.2% to 24,721.0 points, and Dow Jones Futures retreated 0.1% to 49,553.0 points. These after-hours moves followed a mildly positive session on the cash market where major indexes posted marginal gains but underlying breadth was mixed.
Market attention is set to focus on several scheduled releases that traders expect will influence the Fed's outlook. The minutes from the Fed's January meeting are due on Wednesday afternoon and are widely anticipated to shed light on the central bank's near-term thinking about rates. The Fed left policy rates unchanged in January and signaled continued caution amid persistent inflation pressures and signs of weakness in the labor market.
Alongside the Fed minutes, industrial production figures for January are scheduled for release on Wednesday, with the personal consumption expenditures price index for December due on Friday. The PCE price index is the Fed's preferred inflation gauge, and its December reading is expected to factor into the central bank's longer-term interest-rate assessment. The uncertainty surrounding the Fed's path for rates has weighed on markets in recent weeks, a dynamic exacerbated after President Donald Trump's nominee for the next Fed Chair, Kevin Warsh, was perceived as a less dovish option.
Technology names were under close scrutiny during aftermarket trading following several high-profile developments. NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) and Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META) pared some of their after-hours advances, each trading up about 0.6% after earlier spikes of more than 1% that followed an announcement of a multi-year partnership to expand AI infrastructure, with NVIDIA set to supply Meta with millions of chips.
Rival Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) initially fell as much as 4% on the news but narrowed losses to trade down roughly 2% in subsequent trading. The episode underscored ongoing sensitivity across the semiconductor and software ecosystems to AI-related shifts and competitive developments.
Overall, tech stocks have been jittery amid concerns that AI-driven disruption, particularly within software, could prompt a re-evaluation of spending patterns and long-term prospects for parts of the sector. Those worries have contributed to several weeks of declines and appear to have left recent rebounds vulnerable to reversal.
In the cash market during the regular session, major indexes registered modest gains despite the uneven performance among technology leaders. The S&P 500 rose 0.1% to 6,843.22 points, the NASDAQ Composite climbed 0.1% to 22,578.38 points, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 0.07% to 49,533.19 points.
Even as some dip-buying supported selective technology shares, several large-cap names moved lower following last week's losses. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA), Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL), and Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) all extended declines in the session, indicating the recovery was not uniform across the sector.
Markets received a modest lift from reports that the U.S. and Iran had announced some progress in recent nuclear talks, a development that reduced near-term concerns about heightened geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. That relief, however, was limited and did not fully offset caution tied to economic and policy uncertainty.
Investors will be watching the Fed minutes and incoming economic data closely for any signal that could alter expectations for rate policy and, by extension, sector leadership across equities. Until clearer guidance emerges, the trajectory of technology stocks - and the broader market - may remain sensitive to newsflow and policy commentary.