U.S. stock futures fell Monday, as investors face a big week for corporate quarterly results and economic data, following an extended holiday weekend. A jump in crude-oil prices as the U.S. was expected to end waivers for countries that import Iranian crude also was on investors’s radar.
How are indexes faring?
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures
YMM9, -0.32%
fell 63 points, or 0.2%, to 26,502, while S&P 500 futures
ESM9, -0.33%
slipped 7.9 points, or 0.3%, to 2,902. Nasdaq-100 futures
NQM9, -0.48%
fell 25 points, or 0.3%, to 7,687.
On Thursday, the Dow
DJIA, +0.42%
rose 110 points, or 0.4%, to 26,559.54 and the S&P 500 index
SPX, +0.16%
added 0.2% to 2,905.03. The Nasdaq Composite Index
COMP, +0.02%
edged up 1.98 points to 7,998.06.
Stocks finished out the week mostly higher. The S&P 500 shed about 0.1% but the Dow climbed 0.6% and the Nasdaq gained 0.2%.
What’s driving the market?
U.S. markets were closed in observance of Good Friday, and most European stock markets will remain closed for Easter Monday.
Some 150 S&P 500 companies are due to report this week, with Halliburton Co.
HAL, -1.46%
and Kimberly-Clark Corp.
KMB, +0.08%
earnings due before the start of trade Monday.
Among the big names reporting for the rest of the week, Coca-Cola Co.
KO, +0.42%
Twitter Inc.
TWTR, -0.23%
Facebook Inc.
FB, -0.28%
Amazon.com Inc.
AMZN, -0.17%
Microsoft Corp.
MSFT, +1.31%
Starbucks Corp.
SBUX, +1.25%
and Ford Motor Co.
F, +0.53%
are also due to report quarterly results this week.
So far, investors have seen first-quarter results from 15% of the S&P 500 firms, and 78% of those reported better-than-expected earnings, better than the five year average, according to FactSet.
On the economic beat, the Chicago Fed national activity index for March is due at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time, followed by existing home sales for the same month at 10 a.m. Eastern Time.
Losses for stock futures were in contrast to climbing oil prices. West Texas Intermediate crude futures
CLK9, +2.38%
jumped $1.51, or 2.4%, to $65.51 a barrel, while Brent crude futures
LCOM9, +2.61%
surged $1.81, or 2.5%, to $73.79 a barrel. Gains came after reports that the U.S. will stop issuing waivers for countries to import Iranian oil, with an announcement possibly as soon as Monday.
Meanwhile, investors hoping the Chinese government would sustain aggressive stimulus that helped it beat first-quarter growth expectations had reason for disappointment, following a report over the weekend in the South China Morning Post which stated that “senior communist leaders” are happy with the measures so far taken to “save the country’s economy from a hard landing,” and will now focus on structural reforms rather than more stimulus, news that could weigh on global equities, analysts say.
What are analysts saying?
“With the S&P 500 forward PE (price-to-earnings) ratio sitting near highs of 16.8 and the Index 1.2% below its historic record, investors need convincing results to keep buying equities at their current levels,” said Hussein Sayed, chief market strategist at FXTM, in a note to clients.
“The Federal Reserve has limits on what it can do to tighten monetary policy, and loosening policy may not happen unless we see serious signs of declining inflation, which is not the case at the moment. That’s why a disappointment in results this week may lead to a sharp correction in equity prices,” said Sayed.
What stocks are in focus?
Shares of Tesla Inc.
TSLA, +0.75%
fell over 2% in premarket trading. The electric-car company is reportedly investigating a video from Shanghai that appeared to show a parked Tesla auto catching fire.
Tesla will hold an Autonomy Day on Monday, in which the electric-car maker is expected to unveil the company’s latest efforts aimed at self-driving technology. It comes just two days before first-quarter results, which are expected to show a loss owing to sagging sales of its vehicles.
Tesla earnings: The big question is how big is the quarterly loss
Shares of Boeing Co.
BA, +0.68%
fell more than 1% in premarket trading. Charges of lax safety tied to the production of the aircraft maker’s 787 Dreamliner, according to an article in the New York Times on Saturday. The report comes in the wake of the grounding of the 737 Max jets, already in the spotlight after two fatal crashes.
Shares of KeyW Holding Corp.
KEYW, +0.13%
rallied 41.3% in premarket action Monday, after the after the engineering and technology company announced a deal to be acquired by Jacobs Engineering Group Inc.
JEC, +0.21%
in a deal valued at $815 million, including $272 million in debt.
How are other markets trading?
The Shanghai Composite
SHCOMP, -1.08%
fell 1.7% in a mixed day for Asian trading, while major European stock markets remained closed for an extended Easter break.
Gold pries
GCM9, +0.24%
rose 0.4% to $1,281.40, while the ICE Dollar Index
DXY, +0.31%
slipped 0.1% to 97.336.
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https://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-stock-futures-point-to-losses-at-the-start-of-post-easter-trading-2019-04-22
2019-04-22 11:08:00Z
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