Stock futures were quiet late Sunday as investors braced for a week of key corporate earnings and a possible Federal Reserve interest rate hike.
Futures contracts linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 29 points, or about 0.1%. S&P 500 futures fell 0.1% and Nasdaq 100 futures fell slightly 0.1%.
Wall Street is coming off a winning week as the January stock market rally continues. The Nasdaq Composite gained 4.3% on the week, while the S&P 500 and the Dow gained 2.5% and 1.8% respectively.
There are several tries this week for this 2023 rally. A busy stretch of corporate earnings season includes reports from McDonald’s and General Motors on Tuesday, followed by tech giants Apple, Meta Platforms, Amazon and Alphabet later in the year. the week.
The Federal Open Market Committee meets Tuesday and Wednesday, when the Fed is expected to raise rates by a quarter of a percentage point. Investors will be looking for clues as to how the central bank will raise rates in the fight against inflation.
“Inflation has shocked the Fed on the upside; they need to be careful not to inadvertently cut rates too early. Don’t buy into this gibberish about a few rate cuts scheduled for December. For now, the Fed will help in the highly unlikely event of a hard landing,” David Zervos, chief market strategist at Jefferies, said in a note to clients.