US pre-open: Stocks seen flat ahead of earnings deluge

US futures pointed to a muted open on Wall Street as investors awaited a slew of key earnings reports.

At 1130 GMT, Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures were all flat.

Meanwhile, oil prices edged higher ahead of weekly inventory flow data from the American Petroleum Institute later in the day. West Texas Intermediate was up 0.4% to $52.97 a barrel and Brent crude was 0.3% higher at $55.40.

In currency markets, the dollar was up 0.6% versus the pound, 0.3% against the euro and 0.7% versus the yen, recovering from heavy losses in the wake of President Donald Trump’s protectionist inauguration speech.

David Morrison, senior market strategist at SpreadCo, said: “The greenback has managed to recover in early trade this morning. But it continues to look vulnerable to further losses having pulled back sharply from a 14-year high against a basket of currencies at the beginning of the year.”

Jamieson Blake, retail sales manager at ADS Securities, said: “As the Trump administration gets to work, markets seem to be eyeing the early stages of progress with a degree of caution and there’s little around to provide much in the way of fresh direction for stocks. We do have a couple of economic readings today that may cast some doubt over the Fed’s hawkish tendencies – especially the existing home sales data we have shortly after the opening bell. A dip lower here may hint at a real estate market that’s facing catharsis even with interest rates at a mere 0.5% and this could in turn offer stocks something of a broad-based boost.

“Earnings season continues and we should expect Verizon’s numbers to attract some attention before the bell in light of Yahoo’s release yesterday, which included details of a delay in its sale to the telecoms giant as a result of the recently reported data breaches.”

DuPont rallied in pre-market trade after its fourth-quarter earnings beat expectations.

Earnings are due before the open from Verizon Communications, 3M, Johnson & Johnson, Travelers Cos and Alibaba Group. After the close, chip maker Texas Instruments Inc and aluminium giant Alcoa are scheduled to repport.

On the data front, Markit’s manufacturing purchasing managers’ index is at 1445 GMT, while existing home sales are at 1500 GMT.