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U.S. equity futures pointed to a mixed start for stocks early Tuesday as investors parsed earnings from some of the biggest financial institutions, to start the third-quarter reporting season.
Wall Street participants also were watching a number of corporate events, including the start of Amazon’s two-day Prime Day sales event and Apple’s rollout of its latest iPhone lineup.
How are stock benchmarks performing?
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average YM00, -0.50% YMZ20, -0.50% were trading off 93 points, or 0.3%, at 28,705, those for the S&P 500 ES00, -0.20% ESZ20, -0.20% were down 1.05 points, or less than 0.1%, at 3,531.75, while Nasdaq-100 futures NQ00, +0.80% NQZ20, +0.80% gained 115.75 points to reach 12,214, a rise of 1%.
On Monday, the Dow DJIA, +0.87% rose 250.62 points, or 0.9%, to 28,837.52. The S&P 500 SPX, +1.64% added 57.09 points, or 1.6%, to 3,534.22 while the Nasdaq Composite COMP, +2.55% climbed 296.32 points, or 2.6%, to 11,876.26. It was the fourth straight day of gains for all three benchmark indexes.
What’s driving the market?
Investors were digesting a number of major corporate events that were likely to set the tone for the trading session on Tuesday, including earnings results from JPMorgan Chase JPM, +1.22%, which produced better-than-expected earnings but delivered slightly weaker-than-expected revenues.
The nation’s largest bank said Tuesday it had net income of $$9.443 billion, or $2.92 a share in the third quarter, compared with $9.080 billion, or $2.68 a share, in the year-earlier period. However, revenue fell to $29.941 billion from $30.014 billion. The main reason for the surge in EPS was a fall in loan loss provisions which dropped by 90% to only $611 million.
BlackRock Inc. BLK, +0.54% said that its quarterly profit rose by 22% as investors flocked to its suite of investment funds amid a volatile period, but a mostly dramatic rise, in equity markets.
Meanwhile, pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson JNJ, +0.57% announced a pause of all of its COVID-19 vaccine trials, highlighting the challenges of producing a cure for the virus that has infected more than 37 million people globally so far, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University.
Beyond earnings, the kick off Amazon.com‘s AMZN, +4.75% two-day sales event and the presumed launch of Apple Inc.’s AAPL, +6.35% new iPhone roster of 5-G enabled phones are expected to draw attention, as investors assess how consumers respond in the era of a pandemic that has weakened segments of the economy.
Stalled talks in Congress around another package of coronavirus financial assistance were still on the mind of the market and come against the backdrop of reports of the smallest increase in new coronavirus infections in a week in the U.S.
Still, hospitals in some parts of the country are seeing a rise in the number of coronavirus patients ahead of the winter flu season. U.S. hospitalizations are at the highest level since Sept. 2, according to data from the COVID Tracking Project, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Looking ahead, traders are also awaiting the latest U.S. inflation data, the consumer-price index, due out at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time.
Which stocks are in focus?
- Shares of JPMorgan Chase rose nearly 2% in premarket action after its announced its third-quarter results.
- Walt Disney Co. shares DIS, -0.00% jumped Tuesday after the entertainment giant late Monday announced a strategic reorganization of its media and entertainment businesses to focus on streaming.
- Amazon.com shares were up more than 1.4% as the company is expected to generate some $10 billion in sales from its Prime Day sales event, experts say.
- Shares of J&J were down 1.7% before the bell on Tuesday after the company announced the pause of its COVID-19 trial.
- BlackRock‘s stock popped nearly 5% in premarket action after its results.
