By Peter Nurse
Investing.com - U.S. stocks are seen opening marginally lower Monday, consolidating after last week’s record levels ahead of a busy week for corporate results.
At 7:05 AM ET (1205 GMT), the Dow Futures contract was down 75 points, or 0.2%, S&P 500 Futures traded 8 points, or 0.2%, lower, and Nasdaq 100 Futures dropped 20 points, or 0.2%.
Wall Street registered another strong week last week, with the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average closing at record highs on Friday, benefiting from earnings topping estimates and strong economic data.
The S&P and Dow each gained around 1.4% last week for their fourth straight week of gains, while the Nasdaq Composite posted its third positive week in a row.
The earnings season kicks into top gear this week with just over 70 S&P 500 companies reporting, including 10 Dow stocks. The focus turns from banking to the tech sector, with streaming giant Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) due to report its latest financial results after the closing bell on Tuesday.
One-time tech bellwether IBM (NYSE:IBM) is also due to report earnings after the close Monday, while attention will also be on Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), and in particular its self-driving software, after one of its cars was involved in a fatal crash over the weekend.
Peloton (NASDAQ:PTON) stock retreated premarket Monday after safety regulators in the U.S. warned people to stop using the company’s Tread+ treadmill "immediately" if they have children or pets in the home, citing 39 incidents including one death. Peloton called the warning “misleading and inaccurate.”
Soft drinks giant Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) has also just released strong first-quarter numbers, with revenues and earnings beating expectations, but the company declined to raise guidance, citing continued uncertainty surrounding the pandemic.
The U.S. vaccination rollout has reached a milestone with half the adult population now having had at least one shot. This comes as the World Health Organisation warned that more people worldwide were diagnosed with Covid-19 last week than at any other time since the pandemic erupted over a year ago.
The economic data slate is largely empty Monday, but the week as a whole includes a number of housing releases, the weekly initial jobless claims on Thursday and the IHS Markit's composite flash U.S. Purchasing Managers' Index for April on Friday.
Oil prices edged lower Monday, struggling to add to recent gains amid concerns that surging coronavirus infections worldwide could have implications for global economic activity.
That said, the wider tone in the crude market has been positive of late, helped by signs of robust recoveries in both the U.S. and China, the two largest consumers of oil in the world.
U.S. crude futures traded 0.1% lower at $63.16 a barrel, while the Brent contract fell 0.1% to $66.72 after gaining 4.6% Wednesday. Both contracts rose around 6% last week.
Elsewhere, gold futures rose 0.5% to $1,788.55/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.5% higher at 1.2047.