US pre-open: Futures higher as Q2 earnings season picks up steam.


Wall Street futures were in the green ahead of the bell on Tuesday as traders turned their attention to a flurry of corporate earnings.

New York Stock Exchange

Source: Sharecast

As of 1245 BST, Dow Jones futures were up 0.06%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.26% and 0.45% firmer, respectively.

The Dow closed 64.36 points lower on Monday despite Donald Trump's announcement that the US had struck a trade deal with the European Union.

Corporate earnings will likely take centre stage on Tuesday, with UnitedHealth warning that FY25 earnings would be worse than expected as its insurance unit continued to battle with higher medical costs, while UPS reported a drop in both revenue and profits in Q2, and Merck & Co narrowed its FY outlook as it announced plans to slash $3.0bn in costs by the end of 2027.

Spotify said Q3 profits would fall short of Wall Street expectations as higher taxes related to employee salaries offset heightened demand for its streaming plans, while Royal Caribbean Q2 earnings came in ahead of expectations despite posting revenues that disappointed.

Still to come, Boeing, Procter & Gamble, PayPal, Visa, Booking Holdings, and Starbucks were all slated to report earnings before the end of the day.

On the macro front, a preliminary reading of June's wholesale inventories and goods trade balance will be released at 1330 BST, while S&P/Case-Shiller's May home price index was slated for release at 1400 BST, and June's JOLTS job openings report and July consumer confidence figures will follow at 1500 BST.

The Federal Reserve will also kick off its two-day policy meeting on Tuesday, with the central bank widely expected to keep its benchmark overnight policy rate steady in a range of 4.25% to 4.5%.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com

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