US investors are apparently not sure which way to turn Tuesday after the market rally yesterday on Wall Street propelled stocks forward on the back of a clutch of M&A news.
Futures trading shows markets falling lower after the rises seen yesterday as traders mull over various factors - not least the all important payrolls data later in the week.
The benchmark Dow Jones closed 165 points higher to 17,829, while the Nasdaq added 73 to go to 5,127. The broader based S&P500 gained 25 to stand at 2,104.
Meanwhile, in futures trading today, the Dow is down 25 points, while the Nasdaq lost around nine and the S&P500 lost three points.
It comes after shares in Asia slumped to the lowest level in nearly three weeks on profit taking after weak Chinese factory data and fears over the global economy.
In China, traders were also put off by the government’s crackdown on illegal futures trading.
The Nikkei 225 in Japan lost a whopping 400 points to 18,683, while the Shanghai Composite Index lost eight to 3,316.
Michael Hewson, at CMC Markets, turns his attention again to the thorny subject of a US rate rise in light of this week’s jobs number.
"For most of this year the US central bank has been at pains to assure the market that rates will begin to rise this year, with June touted as the first potential trigger point. This then got pushed out to September as uncertainty about the global economy clouded sentiment," he said.
"When September came and went December became the most likely candidate before a series of disappointing US economic reports prompted investors to push back that prospect as well."
He said the divergence between the most recent economic data and the Fed’s view on the US economy has only served to deepen the uncertainty investors have about how the US central bank is seeing the economy across the Pond.
In focus today will be more on the global car giant Volkswagen, whose shares have taken a hit again after revelations last night that the emissions test scandal could extend to the Porsche Cayenne model.
Breakfast cereal giant Kellog (NYSE:K.) will report earnings ahea do the bell, while TransCanada (NYSE: TRP) will also report numbers.
A big corporate news story is that Candy Crush maker King Digital Entertainment (NYSE:KING) is to be bought for US$5.9bn by Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:ATVI), the games developers behind hit franchises such as Call of Duty, World of Warcraft and Guitar Hero.
Activision shares rose up to 3% in pre-market deals. It is paying US$18 per share to acquire the mobile games group, and the transaction has been unanimously approved by the boards of both companies.
The deal sets up Activision to become leader in interactive entertainment across mobile, console and PC platforms, and positions the company for future growth, it said.
After the bell tonight, electric car giant Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) will again be under the spotlight as it reports..