The front of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is seen in New York, USA, February 16, 2021. REUTERS / Brendan McDermid
Futures indicated a lower opening for major Wall Street indices on Tuesday, while investors relied on the results of Netflix and other major technology-related companies this week to support the positive start to the earnings season.
Netflix streaming service provider (NFLX.O), which prospered during the blockades last year, will be the first of the so-called FAANG group to report quarterly figures. Its shares fell by about 0.3% in pre-market trading, before its post-market results.
International Business Machines Corp (IBM.N) rose 2.7% as it recorded the largest quarterly sales growth in two years, boosted by its high-margin cloud computing business. Read more
Chipmaker Intel Corp (INTC.O) is due to report results on Thursday.
“We’re getting a little weak … even if the revenue and economic data are good,” said Ryan Detrick, senior market strategist at LPL Financial in Charlotte, North Carolina.
“The fundamentals are extremely strong and it wouldn’t be too worrying after the rally we’ve seen in the last 13 months for the market to recover a little more in the face of strong gains.”
After the blockbuster gains from the big American banks last week, analysts expect the first quarter profit for S&P 500 companies to increase by 30.9% compared to a year earlier, according to IBES Refinitive data.
A withdrawal of bond yields with longer dates from 14-month highs eased concerns about higher borrowing costs, reviving demand for richly valued technology stocks. Read more
Also, strong economic data and strong corporate earnings expectations helped the S&P 500 and Dow hit record highs last week.
At 08:32 AM ET, the Dow E-minis was down 154 points, or 0.45%, the S&P 500 E-minis was down 18 points, or 0.43%, and the Nasdaq 100 E-minis was down 48 , 75 points, or 0.35%.
Tobacco companies, including Altria Group (MO.N) and Philip Morris (PM.N), fell as much as 4.2% after the Wall Street Journal reported that the Biden administration is considering a rule that would limit nicotine or would ban menthol in cigarettes.
Abbott Laboratories (ABT.N) fell 3%, despite a threefold increase in quarterly profit. Read more
Nike Inc (NKE.N) fell about 1.6% after Citigroup downgraded the company’s shares to “neutral” from “buying”.
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