U.S. stock futures are lower in pre-market trading for Tuesday, January 30. The Nasdaq Futures are trading at 6,967.50  with a loss of -0.36% percent or –25.00 point.The S&P 500 Futures are trading at 2,845.50 with a loss of  -0.28% percent or -8.00 point. The Dow Futures are trading at 26,299.00 with a loss of –0.50% percent or -131.00 point.

In overnight trading in the Eastern Hemisphere,Japan’s Nikkei 225 are trading at 23,291.97  with a loss of -1.43% percent or -337.37 point. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng are trading at 32,623.03  with a loss of  -1.04% percent or  -187.23 point. China’s Shanghai Composite are trading at 3,488.01  with a loss of -0.99% percent or -34.99 point. India’s BSE Sensex are trading at 36,085.16  with a loss of -0.54% percent or  -191.55 point at 12:15 PM.The FTSE 100 are trading at 7,633.55  with a loss of -0.50% percent or -37.98 point. Germany’s DAX are trading at 13,302.03  with a loss of -0.17% percent or  -22.45 point. France’s CAC 40 are trading at 5,516.00  with a loss of -0.11% percent or -5.86 point. The Stoxx Europe 600 are trading at 398.61 with a loss of -0.31% percent or -1.21 point.

Tuesday’s Factors and Events

So far this morning stock futures are pointing to a slightly slower opening; the S&P 500 front month contract (ES), for example is around seven points lower as I write, while the equivalent Dow contract (YM) is off around forty points and Nasdaq futures (NQ) are trading 20 points below Friday’s close.

None of those are particularly big moves, but after another strong close to last week there will, I’m sure, be some desperate bears looking for significance in the weak start to today’s trading.

There are good reasons for the slow start to the week, but rather than that being a harbinger of doom, all of those reasons have the potential to end up as positives.

Monday’s Activity

U.S. market were lower on Monday. For the day the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 26,439.48 with a loss of -0.67% percent or  -177.23 point. The S&P 500 closed at 2,853.53 with a loss of  -0.67% percent or  -19.34 point. The Nasdaq Composite closed at 7,466.51 with a loss of -0.52% percent or -39.27 point.

Other leading market index closes included the small-cap Russell 2000 Index closed at 1,598.11  with a loss of -0.62% percent or  -9.95 point; the S&P 600 Small-Cap Index closed at 974.34  with a loss of -0.53%  percent or –5.23  point; the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index closed at 1,978.60 with  a loss of -0.83% percent or -16.63 point; the S&P 100 Index closed at 1,265.56    with  a loss of -0.66% percent or -8.43 point; the Russell 3000 Index closed at 1,682.74   with  a loss of -0.68% percent or  -11.49 point; the Russell 1000 Index closed at 1,578.13  with a loss of -0.68% percent or  -10.85 point; and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index closed at 26,439.48  with a loss of -0.67% percent or -177.23  point.