(RTTNews) - Wall Street is looking to open higher on Tuesday, as investors get ready to look for bargains following the previous session’s historic sell off. The Dow plunged 777 points on Monday, its biggest one-day point loss ever, after the House voted down a $700 billion rescue plan.

Stocks suffered historic losses on Monday, falling sharply in early trading then nose-diving later in the day after the House of Representatives voted down a bailout plan that would have allowed the government to purchase mortgage-backed assets from financial institutions. These assets, which have become nearly impossible to sell since the slump in the U.S. housing market, are blamed for the problems in the financial markets.

Following the announcement, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that the bailout was defeated despite Democrats’ efforts to work with the GOP. Nonetheless, Pelosi stated, “The lines of communication remain open.”

Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve and other central banks around the world announced additional liquidity injections into the severely strained markets on Monday. The massive liquidity injections are being undertaken as short-term funding markets remain under stress.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 777 points or 7 percent. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 suffered its biggest one-day percentage drop since Black Monday in 1987, falling 8.8 percent. The Nasdaq saw its biggest one-day loss since 2001, plunging almost 200 points or 9.1.

John Schmitt, a senior economist at the Center for Economic Policy Research told RTTNews that although the decline is shocking, it’s “not the end of the world by any stretch.” Schmitt argued that the differences between Democrats and Republicans and the inability to find a middle ground are what ultimately killed the bill.

While investors will likely keep Capital Hill in focus on Tuesday, the results of the National Association of Purchasing Management-Chicago’s business survey for September are scheduled to be released soon after the opening bell. Economists expect the business barometer index based on the survey to come in at 54.0.

In August, the Chicago business barometer rose 7 points to 57.9, with the production and new orders indexes climbing 14.2 and 6.7 points, respectively to 63.4 and 60.2. Despite a 10 point-tumble, the prices paid index remained elevated at 80.6.

Separately, the Conference Board is scheduled to release its consumer confidence report for September later in the morning. The survey, which is based on a survey of 5,000 U.S. households, is expected to show that the consumer confidence index eased to 55 in September.

The index rose 5 points in August to 56.9, marking the second consecutive month of gains. While the expectations index increased 10.1 points to 52.8, the current conditions index declined 2.6 points to 63.2. Much of the optimism was traced back to the recent pullback in energy prices.

Among individual stocks, Huntsman (HUN) will likely see notable gains on Tuesday, after receiving a favorable decision in a court ruling on its merger deal with Hexion. Huntsman said Monday that the Delaware Court of Chancery decided to enter a judgment in favor of the company, denying all declarations sought by Apollo Management and Hexion Specialty Chemicals in their suit requesting the Court to excuse Hexion from its obligation to consummate a pending merger transaction with Huntsman.

On the other hand, some alternative energy stocks may show early weakness. Within the sector, Ballard Power Systems (BLDP), VeraSun (VSE), and Evergreen Solar (ESLR) may show notable declines after being among the few stocks to buck the downtrend in the previous session.

Crude oil futures are trading up $0.73 at $97.10 a barrel after plunging $10.64 to $96.37 a barrel in the previous session. The steep decline on Monday came as traders expressed concerns about the outlook for global oil demand.

After ending the previous session up $5.90 to $894.40 an ounce, gold futures are seeing some further upside and are currently up $2.90 at $897.30 an ounce. The precious metal benefited from weakness in the value of the U.S. dollar on Monday.

On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is currently trading at 105.13 yen compared to the 104.18 yen it was worth at the close of New York trading on Monday. The dollar is currently valued at $1.4259 versus the euro compared to yesterday’s $1.4436.

In overseas trading, stocks markets across the Asia-Pacific region closed mostly lower on Tuesday, although several of the markets pared the steep losses seen in early trading. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index still ended the day down 4.1 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets are turning in a mixed performance after falling sharply in the previous session. The French CAC 40 index and the German DAX index are down 0.4 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively, while the U.K.’s FTSE 100 index is up 0.7 percent.

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Posted in Categories: Eurozone, Japan, Releases, Stocks, USA.

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