US pre-open: Futures point to flat open as jitters over earnings season persist

US stock futures pointed to a flat open on Tuesday, as investors remained jittery ahead of what could be a difficult earnings season.

Wells Fargo & Co.

$71.31

10:59 03/01/25

1.60%

$1.12

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is expected to open approximately six points higher, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq are expected to begin the session a point higher than Monday’s close.

Banking giant JP Morgan Chase & Co edged higher in pre-market trading after its first quarter headline revenue beat Wall Street’s expectations.

Drug-maker Johnson & Johsnon and financial services provider Wells Fargo & Co. will report ahead of the opening bell, while transportation supplier CSX Corp and IT giant Intel Corp will report after the close.

Analysts warned that declining oil prices and a strong dollar could weigh negatively on the earnings season.

“Given the wobbly start to the year in the US, a stronger dollar and the plunge in oil prices, it could be a really rough ride culminating in the first decline in earnings in six years,” said Oanda’s senior market analyst Craig Erlam.

Aside from the earnings season, there’s plenty of data on the calendar on Tuesday, with retail sales for March due for release at 13:30 BST.

At the same time, the producer-price index for March is out, followed 30 minutes later by the NFIB small-business index for March at 14:00 BST and by the February business inventories at 15:00 BST.

Later in the day, Minneapolis Fed President Narayana Kocherlakota, a non-voting member of the FOMC, will speak at an open forum about the economy in Winona, Minnesota.

Asian markets endured a choppy session on Tuesday, while concerns over Greece’s bailout programme dragged most European stocks lower.

Greece has denied reports that it is preparing to default on its loans if unable to reach a deal with its creditors after the Financial Times suggested that the country was quickly running out of money and it needed to find €2.5m to pay civil service salaries and pension in April.

Oil prices rebounded slightly, with West Texas Intermediate climbing 1% to $52.45, while Brent crude gained 0.4% to $58.17 a barrel.

Gold futures slid 0.9%, while the dollar lost 0.1% against the yen but was largely stable against both euro and pound.