Tech Stocks Surge as Retail Sales Miss Expectations

U.S. tech-heavy Nasdaq and S&P 500 futures rose on Tuesday following softer-than-expected retail sales data, which boosted hopes for monetary policy easing by the Federal Reserve. The Commerce Department reported a 0.1% increase in May retail sales, below the expected 0.3% rise.

Futures tracking the tech-heavy Nasdaq and the benchmark S&P 500 climbed on Tuesday, after softer-than-expected U.S. retail sales data boosted investor optimism around monetary policy easing by the Federal Reserve this year.

A Commerce Department report showed retail sales rose 0.1% in May, below the 0.3% increase expected by economists polled by Reuters.

At 8:30 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 13 points, or 0.03%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 4.25 points, or 0.08%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 51.75 points, or 0.26%.