US pre-open: Futures up, but gains limited ahead of earnings

Stock futures rose slightly on Monday morning though gains were limited as investors awaited yet more quarterly earnings from heavyweight corporates.

Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 0.3%, the S&P 500 was 0.2% higher while the Nasdaq rose 0.1%.

Following results from banking heavyweights JPMorgan and Citigroup last week, the coming few days will see earnings from the likes of Tesla, Bank of America, Deliveroo, Goldman Sachs and Netflix.

JPMorgan beat expectations on Friday with a 30% jump in third-quarter net interest income, though chief executive Jamie Dimon delivered a gloomy outlook alongside the results, saying: "This may be the most dangerous time the world has seen in decades.”

"The war in Ukraine compounded by last week's attacks on Israel may have far-reaching impacts on energy and food markets, global trade, and geopolitical relationships," he said.

Regarding US monetary policy, he commented: "Persistently tight labour markets as well as extremely high government debt levels with the largest peacetime fiscal deficits ever are increasing the risks that inflation remains elevated and that interest rates rise further from here.”

Bond yields were climbing once again on Monday with the yield on a 10-year US Treasury note up 5.9 basis points at 4.686%.

The only major economic data release to watch out for is the 0830 release of the NY Empire State Manufacturing Index, which is expected to sink to -7.0 in October from +1.9 previously.

In company news, Pfizer on Friday slashed its revenue guidance for the full year, citing lower-than-predicted sales of its Covid-19 vaccine. The company also said it would embark on a cost-cutting programme to save $3.5bn annually by next year, which includes layoffs.

Chip giant Nvidia was lower after Reuters reported that the US government will tighten restrictions on AI chip exports to China, highlighting Nvidia's H800 as one of specific products that it wants to block.