Stock futures opened slightly to the downside Monday evening after a record-setting session. 

Contracts on the S&P 500 edged lower after closing at an all-time high by the end of Monday's regular trading day, marking the index's fifth consecutive record close. 

The major stock indexes have been grinding higher as a slew of strong corporate earnings results and solid economic data in the U.S. buoyed investor sentiment. Monday's gains came even as geopolitical concerns loomed, with chaos in Afghanistan continuing from the weekend after the Taliban overtook the country. 

The spread of the Delta variant has also posed a risk to equities, as has the specter of a near-term policy shift from the Federal Reserve. On the latter front, market participants are set to receive the Federal Open Market Committee's July meeting minutes on Wednesday, offering more context around how much more amenable central bank officials have become to the notion of tapering their crisis-era asset purchases as the economic recovery takes place. 

"There are a lot of reasons for anxiety among investors in the short term if you look at the Delta variant, of course, if you look at the inflationary outlook, if you look at U.S. policy uncertainty and kind of continued choppy economic data. We think that there is a chance that we'll see some shorter-term consolidation here over the next month or two," Jon Adams, BMO Global Asset Management senior investment strategist, told Yahoo Finance. 

"But if you look at a medium-term perspective, we think that we're pretty constructive on the outlook," he added. "Earnings season's been exceptional, the economy remains strong ... We'll get a lot more clarity in the fall around policy and around the virus. We think that it's still a time to remain overweight equities and with a bias toward U.S. equities."

On Tuesday, earnings results from major retailers including Walmart (WMT) and Home Depot (HD) will help shed more light on the strength of the consumer at the company level. And more broadly, the Commerce Department's July retail sales report is also due for release, providing a fresh update on the strength of overall U.S. consumption as coronavirus concerns resurge and the boost from government-issued stimulus checks earlier this year wanes. Consensus economists are looking for a 0.3% drop in monthly retail sales following July's 0.6% rise. 

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