U.S. stock index futures were largely flat on Tuesday, with the Nasdaq set to open slightly higher as Tesla led gains among beaten-down growth shares.
Investors also kept a close watch on China in hopes that public unrest in the country could lead to a quicker easing of COVID-19 curbs by its government.
“The global economic recovery, especially in that of the high inflation zones of the U.S., Europe and the UK, hinges on Chinese supply chains being back up and running,” said Richard Flax, chief investment officer at Moneyfarm.
“Naturally, investors are grasping at any signs of perceived easing (in zero-COVID) or recovery as a cause for optimism.”
Wall Street’s main indexes ended about 1.5% lower in the previous session amid protests in China, while Apple closed at a near three-week low on worries about a hit to iPhone production.
At 8:34 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 56 points, or 0.17%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 1 points, or 0.03%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 19 points, or 0.16%.
Shares of Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) rose 1.2% in premarket trading. Other growth stocks such as Apple Inc (AAPL.O), Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) and Meta Platforms Inc (META.O) rose between 0.2% and 0.6%.
U.S.-listed shares of Chinese companies Alibaba Group Holding Ltd , Pinduoduo Inc (PDD.O) and JD.com Inc rose between 5% and 6.8% as China broadened equity financing channels for property developers.
Roku Inc (ROKU.O) dropped 3.6% after KeyBanc Capital Markets downgraded the streaming device makers’ stock to “sector weight” from “overweight”.
Oil companies Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) and Chevron Corp (CVX.N) gained about 1% each, tracking higher crude prices amid expectations that the OPEC+ would agree to cut oil output during its December meeting.
On the data front, a report is expected to show that consumer confidence in November eased further to 100.00 from 102.50 in the previous month amid rising concerns about inflation and a possible recession next year.
