Futures linked to the S&P 500 barely budged Monday night as investors geared up for a slew of corporate earnings reports from big names like JPMorgan Chase and UnitedHealth. S&P 500 futures dipped 0.1%, while Nasdaq-100 futures slipped 0.2%. On the flip side, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures ticked up by 17 points.
Over in Asia, markets took a hit. South Korea's Kospi index plunged significantly. The Kosdaq, focusing on small-cap stocks, also fell, down 4.23%. Japan's Nikkei 225 and Topix indices weren't spared either, with the Nikkei dropping 2.63% and the Topix down 0.49%. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.29% as well.
Eyes are on earnings reports from major banks like JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo, expected before the market opens Tuesday. These financial giants' results could set the tone for an earnings season with high expectations. FactSet data suggests S&P 500 profits might have grown nearly 30% year-over-year.
Anthony Saglimbene, a key market strategist at Ameriprise, highlighted three sectors likely to sway investor sentiment this season: banks, big tech, and energy. He stressed the need to watch consumer and business health amid rising interest rates, elevated costs, and macroeconomic worries.
Investors will also scrutinize existing home sales data and comments from Federal Reserve officials Christopher Waller, Tom Barkin, and Susan Collins on Tuesday. Later in the week, September's inflation data might affect Treasury yields, which have climbed to multidecade highs. The U. S. bond market took a break on Monday for the Indigenous Peoples' Day holiday.
On Wall Street, it was a mixed session Monday. The Dow climbed more than 195 points, while dips in memory stocks pushed the Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 into the red.
Asian Markets React to Wall Street and Oil Prices
The Korea Exchange activated a sell-side sidecar on the Kospi, briefly halting program trading as South Korean stocks nosedived. This mechanism kicks in when the Kospi 200 futures index falls 5% or more for at least a minute, pausing trading for five minutes.
Asian technology stocks mirrored the decline of their U. S. counterparts ahead of the U. S. inflation data release. In Japan, SoftBank Group shares tumbled 6.7%, while Tokyo Electron, a chip equipment maker, dropped over 5%. Advantest and Kioxia, another memory chipmaker, saw significant declines of 6.1% and 8.8%, respectively. In South Korea, SK Hynix fell 6.5%, and Samsung Electronics slid 5.6%, with Seoul Semiconductor declining 3.1%.
Early Tuesday trading in Asia-Pacific markets showed more declines. Japan's Nikkei 225 dropped 1.20%, while the Topix remained flat. The Kospi opened down 3.29%, and the Kosdaq fell 2.49%. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was 0.33% lower.
Rising oil prices added to market pressures. Japan's Nikkei 225 was expected to open lower as trading resumed after a holiday, with its Chicago futures contract at 68,320 and its Osaka counterpart last trading at 68,380, compared to the index's previous close of 69,030.92 on Friday. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index futures were last at 24,228, compared to the index's last close of 24,271.20.
In the pharmaceutical sector, Syndax Pharmaceuticals shares nosedived 15% after the company announced its Phase 2 trial of axatilimab for treating idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis didn't meet its primary endpoint. Nick Botwood, Syndax's head of research and development, expressed disappointment over the trial's outcome, despite the promising scientific rationale behind the treatment.
