U.S. stock futures gained ahead of a bumper day of earnings from some of America’s largest corporations, including major tech names.
Futures tied to the S&P 500 edged up 0.3% Tuesday, a day after the broad index hit its latest in a string of record highs. Technology-heavy Nasdaq-100 futures rose 0.6%, while futures for the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average inched up 0.2%.
Tech behemoths
and Google parent Alphabet are set to report earnings after markets close, part of a major week for an earnings season that has so far beaten investors’ expectations and helped lift indexes out of a September slump.
Investors have been buoyed by strong figures from major banks, consumer companies and manufacturers. Meanwhile, jitters about the labor market and inflation have somewhat given way to optimism about a recovering economy.
“Covid numbers have crested, the economic data has been pretty good, and the early read on third quarter earnings is positive,” said
David Donabedian,
chief investment officer at CIBC Private Wealth. “The bottom line is this is still a buy the dips market.”
which was among the first of the major tech firms to report third-quarter earnings, said late Monday that changes to Apple’s privacy rules had hit sales growth. The social-networking company saw its shares rise 1.7% ahead of the opening bell, as the hit wasn’t as large as some analysts had been expecting.
Tech firms are likely to remain attractive to investors, and their earnings should remain strong, despite the trend of fewer people working from home, and the risk of increasing regulation, said Mr. Donabedian.
“They are battleships—they just continue to post very strong revenue and earnings growth,” he said.
Blue chip firms set to post earnings ahead of Tuesday’s market open include
3M,
and Lockhead Martin.
and
are set to report after markets close.
Data on new home sales and consumer confidence are due at 10 a.m. ET, offering investors additional insight into the state of the economy. Home sales are forecast to pick up in September, while consumer confidence is expected to have weakened in October.
The yield on the benchmark 10-Year U.S. Treasury note inched up to 1.640% Tuesday from 1.634% on Monday. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.
In commodity markets, Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, fell 0.2% to $85.02 a barrel. Gold prices edged down 0.2%.
Overseas, the pan-continental Stoxx Europe 600 rose…
Read More: Stock Futures Rise Ahead of Tech Earnings