US stock futures steady with big tech earnings, economic data on tap

U.S. stock index futures steadied Tuesday following a positive session on Wall Street, with focus turning squarely to a barrage of major earnings and economic readings this week. 

At 06:10 ET (10:10 GMT), Dow Jones Futures gained just 5 points, S&P 500 Futures rose just 1 point, while Nasdaq 100 Futures climbed 15 points, or 0.1%.

Wall Street indexes registered mild gains on Monday, remaining in sight of record highs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average outperformed, rising nearly 0.7%, while both the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ Composite rose 0.3%.  Alphabet to kick off big tech earnings 

Five of Wall Street’s “Magnificent Seven” are due to report earnings this week, with Google owner Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL ) set to report after the market close on Tuesday.

This will be followed by Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META ) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT ) on Wednesday, while Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL ) and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN ) will report on Thursday.

This week’s earnings are set to act as a bellwether for the broader market, given the relative market capitalization of the five tech giants. Investors will be watching to see whether Wall Street’s biggest firms were able to generate strong returns on their sizeable investments in artificial intelligence over the past year. 

“Putting it all together, risk flows over the last week, while positive, were rather subdued but kept net positioning for the S&P 500 net long and extended,” Citi strategists led by Chris Montagu said in a note. Economic data, election in focus 

Aside from the corporate earnings, a swathe of key economic readings are due this week that could influence Fed thinking regarding future monetary policy.

September’s JOLTS job openings  data is due later in the session and Wednesday sees US gross domestic product  data. But most eyes will be on September's US core personal consumption expenditures price index  - the Fed's preferred measure of inflation - on Thursday, followed by the monthly jobs  report on Friday.

The readings come just weeks before a Fed meeting, where the central bank is widely expected to cut interest rates by a smaller 25 basis points.

The U.S. presidential elections are also set to take place in the coming week, with voting set for Nov. 5.

Republican nominee Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are set for a tight race, although recent polls and prediction markets have tended to favor Trump.  Crude steadies 

Oil prices steadied after the previous session’s sharp losses, with the tense situation in the Middle East the main driving force.

By 06:10 ET, the Brent contract climbed 1% to $71.69 per barrel, while U.S. crude futures (WTI) traded 1% higher at $68.06 a barrel.

Both benchmarks slumped 6% on Monday to their lowest since Oct. 1 after Israel's retaliatory strike on Iran at the weekend bypassed Tehran's oil infrastructure, avoiding the disruption of supplies from this crude-rich region.

(Ambar Warrick contributed to this article.)

Source: Investing.com