US stock futures traded with little direction on Tuesday. The market faced mixed signals from bank earnings, a drop in chip stocks, and fluctuating oil prices.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.5%. Contracts for the S&P 500 slipped below the flatline. Nasdaq-100 futures fell 0.6%, dragged down by tech stocks.
The tech sector faced pressure after South Korea's KOSPI index dropped 6%. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix led the decline, each falling roughly 8%. That loss extended their streaks to five sessions. These two chipmakers represent more than half of the South Korean stock market's total value.
The sell-off followed an announcement from Chinese memory maker CXMT. The company revealed progress on a new memory-cell design that packs more storage into a smaller physical space. CXMT plans to launch a new server memory product using this architecture by the end of 2026.
Broadcom CEO Hock Tan added to investor concerns on Monday. He compared AI speculation to a casino, telling Bloomberg that many investors do not know what they are buying.
Investors also focused on big bank results, which mark the start of third-quarter earnings season. JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, and Citigroup reported on Tuesday morning. Watchers looked for signs that rising interest rates might hurt trading profits.
Oil prices dipped slightly after Brent crude exceeded $105 per barrel. Gasoline costs matched 2022 records for the longest stretch of days above $4 per gallon in a year.
Existing home sales data was the key economic release for Tuesday. Inflation figures remain the main focus for later in the week.