U.S. Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome Powell speaks during a news conference following a meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) at the headquarters of the Federal Reserve on June 14, 2023 in Washington, DC.
Drew Angerer | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Stock futures were little changed on Sunday evening as investors prepare for a slate of inflation data on Wednesday and Thursday and brace for the start of the second-quarter earnings season.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 19 points, or 0.04%. Nasdaq 100 were flat while S&P 500 futures slipped about 1%.
This week’s inflation data follows a rate hike skip at the June Federal Open Market Committee meeting. The consumer price index report is due out Wednesday morning, followed by the central bank’s preferred gauge of wholesale price pressures, the producer price index, on Thursday.
Stocks are heading into a new week after closing lower on jobs data from ADP and the Labor Department last week. Despite non-farm payrolls growth cooling somewhat, investors signaled that the still churning economy is enough for the Federal Reserve to continue on with benchmark interest rate hikes.
All three major indexes posted losses last week as a result. The S&P 500 pulled back 1.16%, while the Nasdaq Composite and Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.92% and 1.96%, respectively.
Still, investors also have a slew of quarterly earnings reports to consider. Finance behemoths BlackRock, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Citi will all report and kick off the second-quarter earnings season.
“We believe S&P 500 earnings will face significant pressure during the rest of the year and enter an earnings recession,” Morgan Stanley analyst Edward Stanley wrote in a Sunday note to investors. “The reason is negative operating leverage — when cost growth exceeds sales growth, earnings growth takes a steep hit.”
