U.S. stock futures were trading in a mixed fashion during Sunday’s evening deals, following a similarly mixed week amongst major benchmark averages as market participants processed a slew of quarterly earnings results from major companies.
By 7:30pm ET (11:30pm GMT) Dow Jones Futures and S&P 500 Futures were down 0.1% apiece while Nasdaq 100 Futures added 0.1%.
In the week ahead, investors will be looking towards a key interest rate decision and statement from U.S. Federal Reserve policymakers amid expectations of a 25 basis point hike.
Throughout the week, preliminary manufacturing and services PMIs, CB consumer confidence, building permits, new and pending home sales, core durable goods orders, Q2 GDP data, core pce price index and Michigan sentiment and expectations surveys will also be closely monitored.
On the earnings front, companies including Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), Alphabet Inc Class A (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META), Boeing Co (NYSE:BA), Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Chevron Corp (NYSE:CVX) are scheduled to report quarterly results.
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During Friday’s trade the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 both finished flat at 35,227.7 and 4,536.4 respectively, while the NASDAQ Composite lost 30.5 points or 0.2% to 14,032.8.
On the bond markets, United States 10-Year rates were at 3.841%.
Investor sentiment appears to be turning slightly bearish, so it will not be surprising for us to see the market, trending flat or lower as investors consider selling some of their investments and pocketing some of the nice gains they have achieved this year,” said Noah Hamman, CEO of AdvisorShares.
Fundstrat’s Tom Lee agreed that profit-taking will be “part of the investor mindset,” particularly for those who enjoying “stupendous” year-to-date returns from tech and FAANG stocks.
“That doesn’t mean that when they take profits, they have to necessarily exit the market,” he told CNBC’s Closing Bell: Overtime on Friday. “If the Fed surprises us in a way because it’s more of a dovish pause, I think investors are going to look for ways to find stocks that rise on easing financial conditions,” he said. “They may not come back to the FAANG. They might stick with tech, but they might broaden out to industrials and financials. So yes, profit-taking, but it doesn’t mean the market has to go down.”
Investors anticipate the Fed will increase rates by a quarter percentage point at the conclusion of its meeting on Wednesday and will be listening to comments by Chair Jerome Powell to get a sense of the central bank’s position on what happens next as it tries to navigate a soft landing for the economy.
They’re also watching for the personal consumption expenditures index, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, which is due at the end of the week.
The week ahead is also set to be the busiest one of earnings season, with Thursday being the most intense day. About 40% of the Dow and 30% of the S&P 500 will give their financial updates during the week, including Alphabet, Microsoft and Meta. Several big pharma companies are getting ready to report and it’s a big week for industrial companies and big oil as well. – Investing.com / CNBC
