U.S. stock futures flat as earnings season, stimulus talks continue

Futures contracts tied to the major U.S. stock indexes held steady Sunday evening as investors turned their attention back to Washington and the economy after a busy week of corporate earnings.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures slipped 4 points, implying an opening trade slightly under the flatline when regular trading resumes on Thursday. S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures were also little changed.

The overnight moves Sunday evening come after a mostly positive week on Wall Street and blowout earnings reports from some of the nation’s largest consumer technology companies.

Apple, Amazon and Facebook all posted far-better-than-expected profit results Thursday evening that showed even one of the worst pandemics in the modern era has yet to have a material impact on their bottom lines. Apple, which blew past both overall and iPhone sales expectations, saw its shares rise more than 10% on Friday.

Google-parent Alphabet stock, however, lagged the rest of the mega-cap tech names Friday after posting a decline in revenues for the first time in the company’s history.

Still, the resilience in big tech helped round out both a mostly positive week and a decidedly strong month for U.S. stocks.

The major equity averages ended July with solid gains and posted their fourth straight positive month. The S&P 500 gained 5.5% in July, while the Dow and the Nasdaq Composite rose 2.3% and 6.8%, respectively.

Traders and economists alike are also eager for the July jobs report, which the Labor Department is scheduled to release on Friday.

The once-a-month jobs update will be of critical importance this month, especially since the number of people filing for unemployment benefits has been edging higher. According to Refinitiv, about 1.36 million new jobs are expected, well below the 4.8 million added in June, and the unemployment rate is expected to fall to 10.7% from 11.1%.

Still, market moves around the release could be mixed given the disparity in forecasts. Some economists expect more than 2 million jobs were added, and some even see flat or negative payrolls.

U.S. stock futures flat as earnings season, stimulus talks continue, CNBC, Aug 3