Wall Street opens on the back foot

The main indices on Wall Street opened in the red on Tuesday as turmoil in Chinese markets, earnings anticipation and tepid economic data dampened investor sentiment. Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.63% at 34,923 while the S&P 500 dropped 0.48% to 4,401 and the Nasdaq fell 0.35% to 14,788. Many traders will be awaiting results from numerous tech giants due after the closing bell today before deciding which way to go, while worse than expected US durable goods orders, which rose 0.8% to US$258bn compared to forecasts of a 2.1% increase, is unlikely to have helped matters. Some may also be sitting on their hands until the conclusion of the Federal Reserve meeting tomorrow where the central bank is due to make its latest decision on interest rates. 7:55am: Wall Street set for lower start Wall Street is set for a slow start but the Chinese regulatory clampdown on tech does not seem to be having much effect. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is expected to open down 91 points or 0.27% while the S&P 500 is set for a 0.2% decline. But the tech heavy Nasdaq Composite is indicated just 0.05% lower. US markets are probably more concerned with the rise in Delta variant cases, as well as the latest Federal Reserve meeting which begins today and reveals its latest deliberations tomorrow. There are also a number of heavyweight company results due later, not least Apple, Google-owner Alphabet and Microsoft, all due after the market closes. Before that come the latest US consumer confidence figures, which are expected to slip back after a strong outcome in June. Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK, said: "As the Fed meeting gets underway in Washington DC, we have the latest US consumer confidence numbers for July, which are expected to soften a bit after they hit a post pandemic peak in June of 127.3, as the US economy continued on its path to recovery. "Consumer confidence still remains quite fickle if recent retail sales numbers have been any guide, and the latest personal spending data would also suggest that a lot of US consumers are in no rush to spend their stimulus payments over concern about rising cases of the Delta variant. "June retail sales saw a decent rebound in retail activity, however as has been the case for most of this year US consumer spending has been very much an on-off affair, which suggests the scope for a slight slowdown in this week’s consumer confidence numbers is highly likely with expectations of a fall back to 123.9." Four things to watch for on Tuesday: Aside from the major tech earnings, investors will also be eyeing results from the likes of Visa (NYSE:V) Inc, United Parcel Service (NYSE:UPS) Inc and Starbucks Corp (NASDAQ:SBUX) Shares in General Electric (NYSE:GE) Co may be in focus after the company delivered profits ahead of expectations as well as surprise swing to positive free cash flow Tesla will also be eyed after the firm reported profits that beat expectations in its second quarter but also delayed the launch of its Semi truck programme to next year On the macro front, US durable goods orders will be in focus as well as house price data and the Richmond Fed manufacturing index