US pre-open: Stocks pointing to flat start on Wall Street, trade and geopolitics in focus

(Sharecast News) - Futures markets are pointing to a roughly flat start to the trading day on Wall Street. As of 1101 GMT, Dow Jones mini futures are dipping by 20 points to 42,876.0, alongside a 1.0 point gain for those tracking the S&P 500 to 5,816.50.

Nasdaq-100 mini futures meanwhile are off by four points to 20,370.25.

In the market spotlight, EU trade commissioner, Mario Sefcovic, was due to travel to Washington to meet with his US counterpart and try and de-escalate the trade spat between the two economic powerhouses.

More important even, reports indicated that Washington and Moscow would on Tuesday publish the main conclusions of their negotiations on the day before in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Against that backdrop, investors would be treated to a slew of data covering US housing, including on house prices in January and new home sales in February.

The first of those figures would be released starting from 1300 GMT.

Also due out, at 1400 GMT, was a reading on US consumer confidence in March.