S&P 500 futures hold at record highs as earnings season ramps up
U.S. stock index futures showed benchmarks holding at record levels as bond markets stabilized and traders eyed an accelerating flow of corporate earnings reports.
How are stock-index futures trading
-
S&P 500 futures
ES00,
+0.01%
were barely changed at 4881 -
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures
YM00,
-0.05%
fell 21 points, or less than 0.1%, to 38178 -
Nasdaq-100 futures
NQ00,
-0.03%
eased 7 points, or 0%, to 17451
On Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA
rose 138 points, or 0.36%, to 38002, the S&P 500
SPX
increased 11 points, or 0.22%, to 4850, and the Nasdaq Composite
COMP
gained 49 points, or 0.32%, to 15360.
What’s driving markets
Calmer conditions in the Treasury market — where 10-year yields appear to have found equilibrium, for now, around 4.1% — are allowing traders to place greater focus on the fourth quarter of 2023 company earnings season.
The pace of announcements is about to pick up speed in the next few days, hitting top gear next week , when about 23% of the S&P 500 will present their numbers.
Companies releasing results on Tuesday include Verizon
VZ,
3M
MMM,
General Electric
GE,
Johnson & Johnson
JNJ,
and RTX
RTX,
before the opening bell rings on Wall Street, followed after the close by Netflix
NFLX,
Texas Instruments
TXN,
and Baker Hughes
BKR,
With the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 at record highs, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite having jumped 18% in just the past three months, investors will be keen to see that company profits support markets at current levels.
Investors have become more optimistic about the U.S. economy’s health and are hoping upcoming earnings reports will indicate an AI boom for technology companies, according to Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management
“Tech earnings and corporate guidance are crucial factors for continuing to drive the Mega Tech charge,” said Innes.
Helping support sentiment on Tuesday was signs of a possible nascent rebound in Chinese stocks after a report that Beijing was considering a $287 billion stabilization fund.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng
HK:HSI
bounced 2.6% off its lowest close since October 2022, while the Shanghai Composite
CN:SHCOMP
inched up from a near four-year trough. The iShares MSCI China ETF
MCHI,
which had fallen 11.9% for the month-to-date, was up 1.3% in U.S. premarket trading.
U.S. economic updates set for release on Tuesday include the Richmond Fed index for January, due at 10 a.m. Eastern.
The U.S. Treasury will auction $60 billion of 2-year notes at 1 p.m.
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