Stock Market Today: Stocks lower with Fed Chairman Powell, Tesla in focus

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U.S. equity futures moved firmly lower in early Tuesday trading, while the dollar held onto gains against its global peers, as markets looked to a key speech from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell as well as the first of a series of labor-market-data releases later in the session.

Updated at 8:31 AM EDT

Weighty remarks

Eli Lilly  (LLY)  shares slumped lower in premarket trading, with Danish rival Novo Nordisk  (NVO)  sliding into the red as well, following comments from President Joe Biden that suggested his administration would force price cuts on GLP-1 weight loss treatments such as Wegovy and Ozempic.

In a piece published in USA Today with independent Senator Bernie Sanders, Biden said that if Novo Nordisk and "other pharmaceutical companies refuse to substantially lower prescription drug prices in our country and end their greed, we will do everything within our power to end it for them."

Eli Lilly shares were marked 2% lower in premarket trading at $896.00 each, while Novo Nordisk's U.S.-listed shares fell 2.9% to $141.17 each.

$LLY $NVO President Biden: Novo Nordisk, Eli Lilly must stop ripping off Americans with high drug priceshttps://t.co/DTpJpHf1gl— Michelle Solly (@MSollender) July 2, 2024

Stock Market Today

Stocks ended higher on Monday, powered largely by gains in megacap tech stocks, which shrugged off a sharp drop in Treasury bond prices in a move that lifted 10-year note yields to the highest levels in more than a month.

Related: Analyst resets Nvidia stock price target after trillion-dollar Q2

Benchmark 10-year yields were last checked at 4.459%, with 2-year notes pegged at 4.762%, heading into Powell's speech at the European Central Bank's traditional summer forum in Portugal, which is expected expected to start at around 9:30 am Eastern Time. 

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six global currencies, was marked 0.12% higher at 106.034.

The Labor Department will also release its Job Openings and Labor Market Turnover report, better-known as Jolts, at 10:00 am Eastern, with economists looking for an overall tally of around 7.96 million.

On Wall Street, stocks are looking at a firmly lower open, thanks in part to the ongoing rise in Treasury yields, with futures contracts tied to the S&P 500 suggesting a 23 point opening-bell decline.

Futures linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average suggest a 130 point pullback, with the Nasdaq called 98 points lower to start the Tuesday session.

Tesla  (TSLA)  shares were marked 1.5% lower in premarket trading at $209.86 each, following a 6% gain yesterday, as investors awaited details of the carmaker's second-quarter-delivery figures due prior to the opening bell.

Related: Analyst puts Tesla stock on key ideas list as Q2 deliveries loom

Nvidia  (NVDA)  shares were also on the back foot, falling 1.3% to $122.74 each, with Microsoft  (MSFT) , Apple  (AAPL)  and Alphabet  (GOOGL)  all trading in the red.

More Wall Street Analysts:

• Analyst updates Oracle stock price target after earnings
• Analyst reboots Trade Desk stock price target after Netflix deal
• Analysts adjust Micron stock price target ahead of earnings

In overseas markets, Europe's Stoxx 600 slipped 0.56% following June inflation data that showed only a modest easing in consumer price pressures last month, as well as a steady reading of 2.9% for core inflation. The report added fuel to hawkish comments from ECB President Christine Lagarde on Monday.

Britain's FTSE 100, meanwhile, was last seen 0.27% lower in London with Thursday's national elections firmly in focus.

Overnight in Asia, the yen hit a fresh 38-year low of 161.88 against the U.S. dollar, helping the Nikkei 225 rise more than 1.1% in Tokyo and reclaim the 40,000-point mark for the first time in two months.

The regionwide MSCI ex-Japan benchmark, meanwhile, fell 0.58% into the close of trading. 

Related: Veteran fund manager picks favorite stocks for 2024