By Lisa Pauline Mattackal and Purvi Agarwal
(Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures were mixed on Monday as investors prepared for a week packed with third-quarter earnings reports and economic data that are likely to test stock market valuations.
Dow E-minis were down 72 points, or 0.17%, E-minis were up 8.5 points, or 0.15%, and E-minis were up 50.75 points, or 0.25 %.
Major financial companies kicked off the third-quarter corporate earnings season on a largely positive note on Friday, with JPMorgan Chase (NYSE , Wells Fargo and BlackRock (NYSE ) rebounding after the results.
Its gains propelled the index and the S&P 500 benchmark to all-time closing highs in the previous session.
Still, with stock valuations stretched to the limit (the S&P 500 trades at 21.7 times forward earnings, versus a long-term average of 15.7), companies will be forced to justify them and satisfy investors. .
“While the overall earnings bar is beating estimates, valuations remain elevated,” said Marc Ostwald, chief economist and global strategist at ADM Investor Services International.
There would be “a big focus” on investment in ai and the extent to which companies might delay capital spending, among other metrics, due to uncertainty around the outcome of the upcoming US election, Ostwald said.
Forty-one S&P 500 companies are expected to report results this week, including Bank of America, Citigroup, Johnson & Johnson (NYSE and Netflix (NASDAQ ).
The S&P 500's third-quarter year-over-year earnings growth is estimated at 4.9%, according to LSEG data on Friday.
Investors will also be watching crucial economic data this week, particularly September retail sales, due out on Thursday, for clues about the financial health of American consumers.
Federal Reserve officials Christopher Waller and Neel Kashkari are scheduled to speak throughout the day.
While traders have lowered expectations of a massive 50 basis point rate cut at the Federal Reserve's November meeting after a string of strong labor market data, bets on a 25 basis point cut have remained. practically intact at 86.1%, according to the CME Group (NASDAQ ) FedWatch Tool.
Among individual engines, airplane maker Boeing (NYSE:) fell 2.1% in premarket trading after the company on Friday flagged a larger-than-expected third-quarter loss and said it would cut 17,000. jobs and would delay the first deliveries of its 777X aircraft by a year.
Investment bank B. Riley Financial jumped 17.5% after the company said it had agreed to sell its unit, Great American Group, to asset management firm Oaktree Capital in a $386 million deal.
Shares of Chinese companies listed in the United States, such as Alibaba (NYSE:) and PDD Holdings each fell more than 2% as investors were left guessing about the size of the overall fiscal stimulus China announced on Saturday.
VF Corp (NYSE:) fell 3.1% after Wells Fargo downgraded the clothing retailer to “underweight” from “equal weight.”
Cryptocurrency-linked stocks like Coinbase (NASDAQ gained 3.9%, Riot Platforms (NASDAQ added 3.5% and MicroStrategy rose 4.7%, following gains in .
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