Dow futures tick higher, earnings in focus

By Oliver Gray

Investing.com - U.S. stock futures were trading slightly higher during Sunday's evening trade, after major indices capped a positive week as easing CPI and PPI pressures boosted sentiment ahead of a critical earnings season.

By 19:00 ET (23:00 GMT), Dow Jones futures and S&P 500 futures were up 0.2% apiece while Nasdaq 100 futures gained 0.1%.

Ahead in the week, traders will be looking towards NY empire state manufacturing index, building permits, housing starts, Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index, existing home sales, preliminary manufacturing and services PMI readings, as well as speeches from FOMC members Bowman, Williams, Waller, and Fed Governor Cook.

Meanwhile, earnings season is set to heat up with major companies including Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW), Bank of America (NYSE:BAC), Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX), Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT), Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS), Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE:BK), United Airlines Holdings (NASDAQ:UAL), Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS), and International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM).

During Friday's trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 143.2 points or 0.4% to 33,886.5, the S&P 500 lost 8.6 points or 0.2% to 4,137.6, and the Nasdaq Composite lost 42.8 points or 0.4% to 12,123.5.

Financial giants outperformed following stronger-than-expected earnings, with JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) adding 7.6%.

On the data front, retail sales disappointed, coming in at -1% versus -0.4% expected, while industrial production surprised to the upside, coming in at 0.4% versus 0.2% expected.

For the week, the Dow and the S&P 500 advanced 1.4% and 1.3%, respectively, each finishing at 8-week highs while posting the 5th week of consecutive gains. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq added 1.2% for the week.

On the bond markets, United States 10-Year rates were at 3.517%.