US pre-open: Futures higher ahead of busy week for tech earnings

Wall Street futures were in the green ahead of the bell on Monday as market participants look ahead to key earnings from a number of major tech firms.

As of 1225 BST, Dow Jones futures were up 0.47%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.50% and 0.54% firmer, respectively.

The Dow closed 211.02 points higher on Friday as the price of risk assets retreated amid an apparent cooling of fears of a broader Middle East conflict.

Tech earnings will be the flavour of the week this time around, with electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla, Facebook parent company Meta Platforms, software giant Microsoft, iPhone maker Apple, chipmaker Intel, and Google owner Alphabet all slated to report in the week ahead.

Scope Markets' Joshua Mahony said: "Investors sentiment looks likely to remain unsteady as we enter a critical week from both an earnings and economic perspective. Coming off the back of the worst week for the S&P 500 in over a year, we only saw roughly 80% of the index lose ground. There is a hope that this week's big tech earnings could help alleviate some of that selling pressure, with updates from the likes of Microsoft, Meta, Alphabet, and Tesla ensuring that the so-called Magnificent seven remain in the limelight after a particularly torrid time for Nvidia and Tesla shareholders. However, there is a fear that the AI premium paid for those big tech names could start to reverse unless we start to see those investments drive a meaningful improvement to the bottom line.

"While the Federal Reserve may have entered a blackout period this week, their silence will do little to stifle concerns over the trajectory of US inflation and interest rates. This week sees the US report both growth and core PCE inflation data, with equities likely to suffer in the event of any strengthening in these metrics. With markets having spent much of this year reassessing their expectations from the Fed, we are now facing a strong possibility that rate cuts are pushed out to 2025. Fortunately, we have seen some of the heat come out of the energy markets, with WTI down $6 from its recent peak, and US Natural Gas prices remaining around the lows seen prior to the Russia-Ukraine conflict."

On the macro front, the Chicago Federal Reserve's March national activity index will be published at 1330 BST.

Later in the week, GDP numbers will be out on Thursday, while the Commerce Department will publish its March personal consumption expenditure price index numbers, the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge, on Friday.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com