US stock edge up at open, Nasdaq hits fresh record highs

The US equity markets rebounded from Monday's modest losses and posted solid gains during opening hour of trade on Tuesday, with tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index hitting fresh intraday record highs.

At the time of writing, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added over 60-points to 20970, while the broader S&P 500 Index rose nearly 8-points to 2380. Meanwhile, Nasdaq Composite Index gained around 22-points and climbed to 5,922.

Emmanuel Macron's strong performance in the first French Presidential debate helped ease political uncertainty and boosted investor sentiment.

This coupled with a rebound in oil prices, with WTI crude oil holding comfortably above $49.00/barrel mark in wake expectations that an OPEC output cut deal would be extended beyond June, further collaborated towards bullish sentiment surrounding riskier assets - like equities. 

Investors on Tuesday will keep a close eye on speeches by Kansas City Fed's Esther George and Cleveland Fed's Loretta Mester for fresh clues over the Federal Reserve's near-term monetary policy outlook.

Technical outlook

Carol Harmer, Founder at charmertradingacademy.com notes, "Nas has Double Topped...we are selling this today as the price is diverging from the indicators therefore a bearish signal...........the weekly charts have been seriously overbought all year and we have to really do something soon to take out 5430 because if we fail we are going to see 5360 first with more potential for 5295...So we really are at quite critical levels in the US markets...and they need to move to the upside...and fast....to take off this imminent downside pressure...Our sell will be when Cash opens and if it is below 5430...stops will then be quite tight at 5450....."