US pre-open: Stocks flat ahead of more earnings; Netflix in focus

US futures pointed to a muted open on Wall Street on Tuesday as investors digested a strong after-hours performance from Netflix and looked ahead to more big earnings.

At 1150 BST, Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures were all flat as earnings from Bank of America and Johnson & Johnson came out.

IG analyst Chris Beauchamp said: "US bank earnings dominate the afternoon session, as Bank of America and Goldman Sachs issue their latest figures. US investors will have one eye on this and the other on Washington, as the administration falls into yet another quagmire over its healthcare plans. Turns out that reforming healthcare is not as easy as some thought.

"A hostile public reception has caused two Republican senators to break ranks, and more could follow. All this comes despite the Republicans’ firm hold on the executive and the legislature; if no progress is possible now, what hope is there if they lose the legislature after the mid-term elections?"

Meanwhile, the dollar was recovering some ground against the pound, having fallen late on Monday after President Trump's healthcare bill failed to get congressional approval again, casting further doubt on his ability to get any of his policies through.

However, the greenback bounced back as sterling was knocked lower after data from the Office for National Statistics revealed the consumer price index was 2.6% higher in June than the same month last year, softening from the 2.9% rate in May and pouring cold water on rate hike expectations.

The dollar was up 0.2% versus sterling at 0.7676 and 0.7% stronger against the euro at 1.1562, but down 0.5% versus the yen at 112.09.

Netflix shares surged 11% in after-hours trading after the company said it added 5.2m new streaming customers in the second quarter and reported a 32% jump in revenues to $2.8bn. It also said it expects revenues to hit nearly $3bn in the third quarter.

Bank of America nudged a touched lower in pre-market trade but Johnson & Johnson ticked higher as they released second-quarter earnings.

Earnings were still due from Goldman Sachs ahead of the bell, along with Schwab, UnitedHealth Group, Harley Davidson and Lockheed Martin.

On the data front, the export price index and import price index are due at 1330 BST, while the NAHB housing market index is out at 1500 BST.