US pre-open: Stocks seen muted ahead of bank earnings

US stock futures pointed to a fairly muted open on Wall Street on Friday following solid gains in the previous session, as investors eyed a slew of big bank earnings.

At 1050 BST, Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 futures were down 0.1%, while Nasdaq futures were flat.

Joshua Mahony, chief market analyst at Scope Markets, said: "Despite that soft inflation data yesterday, Wall Street appears to be running out of steam with expectations of a second half underperformance building.

"That said it’s going to be set against some very tough comparatives, but with a distinctly mixed start being seen to Q2 earnings, the slew of numbers we are expecting from US banks as the session progresses will be very closely followed. One key point to watch for here will be impairments – even though the monetary policy tightening cycle appears to be closing in on its peak, has the Fed overcooked the situation and will this now leave a lasting scar on economic performance.

“Numbers from Citigroup, JP Morgan and Wells Fargo are all due ahead of the opening bell, whilst the Michigan Consumer Sentiment print will also be closely followed as again this could offer some insight as to just how damaging the run of rate hikes have been for the wider economy."

On the macroeconomic calendar, import and export price indices for June are due at 1330 BST, while the Michigan index is at 1500 BST.

On the corporate front, Microsoft was likely to be in focus after an upgrade to ‘buy’ from ‘neutral’ at UBS.

Acadia Pharmaceuticals shot up 20% in pre-market trade after saying it had bought expanded commercial rights to the Rett syndrome drug trofinetide, which it markets in the US under the brand name Daybue.