Recession worries keep futures under pressure

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Traders are awaiting inflation data on Wednesday that is expected to show U.S. consumer prices rose 8.8% in June from a year earlier, marking a fresh four-decade high and adding more pressure on the Federal Reserve to act on soaring prices.

Analysts are also tempering their profit estimates as the earnings season kicks off in earnest this week, with reports from JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM), Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C) and Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) & Co among others.

Overall S&P 500 earnings are expected to rise 5.7% in the second quarter, compared with the earlier forecast of 6.8%, according to recent IBES data from Refinitiv.

A stronger-than-expected jobs report last week cemented expectations for a second straight 75-basis-point rate hike later in July, raising fears that aggressive moves by the central bank will tip the economy into a recession.

A number of Fed speakers are also scheduled to speak this week and their comments will be parsed for any change in the Fed’s hawkish stance on inflation.

Exacerbating worries of slowing global growth, several cities in China are adopting fresh COVID-19 curbs from this week to rein in new infections after finding a highly transmissible Omicron subvariant.

All three benchmark indexes ended lower on Monday, after posting solid gains last week, with market leading growth stocks dragging down the Nasdaq..

At 07:03 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 271 points, or 0.87%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 29.25 points, or 0.76%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 56.75 points, or 0.48%.

PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) Inc raised its full-year revenue forecast, helped by sustained demand for its sodas and snacks, sending shares of the soda maker up 0.7% in premarket trading.

Shares of Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) Inc, Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) Inc and Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) Inc fell between 0.6% and 1.1% after Cowen & Co cut its price target for the chip companies on macroeconomic challenges.