US pre-open: Stocks seen touch weaker ahead of more earnings, Fed speeches

US futures pointed a marginally weaker open on Wall Street as investors eyed the release of more earnings reports and speeches by Federal Reserve officials.

At 1105 BST, Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 futures were down 0.2%, while Nasdaq futures were flat.

Meanwhile, oil prices were a little higher as Russia said it was committed to joining an OPEC-led production cut, with West Texas Intermediate up 0.5% at $50.88 a barrel and Brent crude up 0.7% at $51.72. Market participants will be eyeing Baker Hughes rig count data later in the session for further clues.

Jamieson Blake, retail sales manager at ADS Securities London, said: “We’re currently looking at a rather subdued start to the week’s final session on Wall Street although we do have McDonald’s, General Electric and Honeywell as three heavyweight stocks that are all set to report quarterly earnings before the opening bell.

“There’s also a big move at Reynolds with the tobacco firm soaring a phenomenal 18% in pre-market trading off the back of bid news. Economic data is however rather thin on the ground and although we have Fed member Tarullo speaking shortly after the opening bell, it’s more likely to be a case of waiting to see what comes from next week’s consumer confidence print before we get any fresh hints over monetary policy.”

On the corporate front, Reynolds American rocketed in pre-market trade after British American Tobacco announced plans to buy the remaining stake in the company it does not own.

Microsoft rallied in pre-market trade after well-received first-quarter earnings late on Thursday, while PayPal Holdings also gained after reporting a better-than-forecast 18% rise in quarterly revenue.

Chip maker Advanced Micro Devices was under pressure, however, after it posted a loss for the third quarter.

There are no US data releases of note due, but investors will eye speeches from Fed Governor Daniel Tarullo and San Francisco Fed President John Williams.

Oanda’s Craig Erlam said: “Daniel Tarullo has been one of the more dovish voices on the FOMC this year, last month claiming that he wants to see more evidence of inflation moving towards 2%, although he did concede that a rate hike this year is a possibility. Should he move more in line with the more hawkish policy makers in the camp today, as a voting member of the FOMC that didn’t dissent at the last meeting, it would send a strong message that a December hike is very much on track. We’ll also hear from John Williams who isn’t an FOMC voter until 2018.”