Futures contracts tied to the major U.S. stock indexes were mostly flat early Monday as investors braced for one of the busiest weeks of the first-quarter earnings season.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials gained 36 points, or 0.1%, to 33,977.
Futures for the S&P 500 faltered 3.5 points, or 0.1%, to 4,168.
Futures for the NASDAQ Composite index slumped 54.25 points, or 0.4%, to 13,872.35.
Tesla shares were slightly lower in pre-market trading ahead of the electric carmaker’s earnings report after the bell Monday.
Investors are due for a busy week ahead between a Federal Reserve meeting, the debut of President Joe Biden’s “American Families Plan,” more inflation data and a torrent of corporate earnings reports.
About a third of the S&P 500 this week is set to update investors on how their businesses fared during the three months ended March 31.
Some of the largest tech companies in the world are scheduled to report results this week, including Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet.
With the global economy gradually reopening, firms like Boeing, Ford and Caterpillar are expected to note cost pressures they are facing from rising materials and transportation prices.
Corporations have for the most part managed to beat Wall Street’s forecasts thus far into earnings season. With 25% of the companies in the S&P 500 reporting first-quarter results, 84% have reported a positive per-share earnings surprise and 77% have topped revenue estimates.
If 84% is the final percentage, it will tie the mark for the highest percentage of S&P 500 companies reporting a positive EPS surprise since FactSet began tracking this metric in 2008.
The Federal Reserve, which meets on Tuesday and Wednesday, is expected to defend its policy of letting inflation run hot, while assuring markets it sees the pick-up in prices as only temporary. Chairman Jerome Powell will host a press conference Wednesday afternoon to discuss the Federal Open Market Committee’s decision.
Bitcoin rebounded from its recent swoon, with the cryptocurrency up about 8% to $53,484.55 on Monday. That’s still down about $10,000 from its high earlier this month.
Overseas, in Japan, the Nikkei 225 picked up 0.4% early Monday, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index lost 0.4%.
Oil prices backtracked 92 cents to $61.22 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices slipped 80 cents to $1,777.00 U.S.