Wall Street indexes to extend losses; data in focus

US stock indexes ended lower on Monday as investors continued to evaluate growing chances of an interest rate hike from the Federal Reserve next week.
Market mood was also under pressure due to increasing tension in Asia after North Korea launched four ballistic missiles, with most of them landing in Japan’s exclusive economic zone. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has put his nation on high alert and made clear that his country will respond accordingly to any future threat.
"North Korea has already stated that the missiles are a new type. I believe they made that statement prior to the launches. Japan will conduct analyses of the situation with serious concerns over such aspects."
The S&P 500 was down 0.3 percent by the end of traders, with financials ahead of decliners with 0.75 percent to the downside. The Dow Jones industrial average lost nearly 40 points, while the Nasdaq eased 0.36 percent.
Meanwhile in Washington, President Donald Trump signed a new executive order that revises the so-called “travel ban” presented a few weeks back. The Republican intends to wipe out all possible doubts regarding this measure, that as he said repeatedly is designed to keep the “bad guys” out of the United States.
When comparing the new order with the old version, it’s now clear that it will not affect residents or green card holders and it will be applied case-by-case. This measure increases uncertainty while investors continue to wait for further details on the tax reform and other economic promises from the new administration.
In a light day for economic data, the only report that came out on Monday’s session was factory orders for January. The results was above expectations, with a growth rate of 1.2 percent against a 1.0 percent seen by analysts.
Today will also be quite unexciting on the data front, although the US trade balance for January is expected to collect some attention from players. The figures will be released at 13:30 GMT and economists have forecasted a move to -$48.50 billion from a previous -$44.30 billion.

Fort Financial Services