(Reuters] – U.S. stocks index futures eased Tuesday in anticipation of data on manufacturing activity, job openings and earnings from companies such Exxon Mobil Google parent Alphabet, (NASDAQ:) to report later in the day.

Both the Nasdaq saw their highest two-day gains ever since April 2020.

On Monday, both indexes recorded their worst monthly performance in a month since March 2020 pandemic. They were weighed down with expectations of quicker-than-expected rate increases and geopolitical tensions.

Ipek Ozkardeskaya – senior analyst at Swissquote – stated, “A portion of the rally can be explained by dip buying from people who believe stocks reached a bottom because of aggressive hawkish Fed prices across the market.”

“Partially it can be explained by short-covering, which allowed traders to purchase back shares that they originally bet against in order to close their positions.”

Last month, the U.S. Federal Reserve signaled that it plans to fight inflation by raising key interest rates. Fed policymakers spoke Monday of increasing rates in March.

Five rate increases are expected by traders this year. Wall Street analysts expect seven.

According to the Pentagon, geopolitical tensions have increased market uncertainty. On Monday, it stated that it was actively negotiating with Eastern European allies over possible U.S. troop deployements to NATO’s Eastern flank.

At 6:59 AM. ET were down 42 point, or 0.12%. They were also down 10 points (or 0.22%) and down 28.25, or 0.19%.

According to the Labor Department, data will show that the number of job opportunities fell to 10.30million in December from 10.562million in November. The report is due to be released on Friday.

The ISM purchasing manager’s index (PMI), which is expected to be released at 10:00 ET will also be in focus. Analysts expect it to report at 57.5 in January. This marks a deceleration of 1.2 points from December.

IHS Markit will release the final U.S. manufacturing activity reading for January at 9:00 a.m. ET.

As of Monday, 172 S&P 500 companies posted fourth-quarter earnings, of which 78.5% reported above analyst expectations, according to Refinitiv.

United Parcel Service Inc (NYSE 🙂 saw premarket trading rise 7.3% after reaching full-year revenue targets that were higher than market expectations.

Exxon Mobil Corp, (NYSE;) will post its results prior to the opening of markets. General Motors Co and Alphabet Inc, which are parent companies to Google Inc, are scheduled to release earnings late in the afternoon.

Megacaps Amazon (NASDAQ) Inc and Meta Platforms Inc report on Wednesday.

Silvergate Capital, a cryptocurrency-focused bank on the NYSE:) Corp jumped 10.7% upon acquiring assets of $182 Million-backed crypto venture Diem Association from Meta Platforms.