US pre-open: Futures turn south ahead of raft of corporate earnings

US stocks futures pointed south on Tuesday, as investors looked ahead to yet another batch of important corporate earnings.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is set to open down approximately 34 points, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq are set to begin the session respectively five and 12 points lower.

Earnings in focus

In company news, videogame maker Activision Blizzard shed 5.44% in pre-market trading after it unveiled plans to buy Candy Crush Saga maker King Digital Entertainment for $3.4bn in cash plus debt.

King Digital jumped 14.22% ahead of the bell, while Molson Coors Brewing gained 9.69% after the Financial Times reported the brewer was in negotiations with joint venture partner SABMiller to acquire a majority stake in MillerCoors.

US-listed of oil giant Royal Dutch Shell shed 0.45% ahead of the bell after the group said it expects synergies from its planned $70bn takeover of BG Group to be 40% higher than originally estimated.

The earnings season continues, with Office Depot, Archer Daniels Midland, Cablevision Systems and Kellogg set to report before the bell, while CBS, Tesla Motors, Herbalife and Groupon will publish quarterly results after the close.

The economic calendar is relatively quiet on Tuesday, with the only highlight of the session being a reading on factory orders for September, which is released at 1500 GMT.

Economists expect a decline of 0.9% compared with a 1.7% drop in the previous month.

The main event in terms of economic data will come on Friday, when a report on non-farm payrolls for October could shed light on the timing of an interest-rate hike, after the Federal Reserve hinted liftoff could come as early as next month.

“This divergence between the most recent economic data and the Fed’s view on the US economy has only served to deepen the uncertainty investors have about how the US central bank is seeing the US economy,” said CMC Markets’ chief market analyst Michael Hewson.

Most Asian equity markets moved into positive territory, as concerns over a slowdown in China abated slightly, while the Reserve Bank of Australia left interest rates unchanged overnight at 2%, which was largely in line with expectations.

Elsewhere, European stocks wavered, while oil prices rose, as West Texas Intermediate gained 0.84% to $46.53 a barrel and Brent advanced 0.93% to $49.25 a barrel.

The dollar was broadly flat against the yen but gained 0.34% and 0.24% against the euro and the pound respectively, while gold futures slid 0.09% to $1,132.78.