US pre-open: Futures flat as markets pause at record highs before earnings

(Sharecast News) - US stock futures were pointing to a flat start on Tuesday as the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 both pause at record highs ahead of a barrage of corporate earnings. Verizon, 3M, Johnson & Johnson, General Electric and RTX will report their latest quarterly figures before the opening bell, with Netflix, Texas Instruments and Baker Hughes to publish results after markets close.

Then on Wednesday we'll see the quarterly numbers from Tesla, as the first of the so-called 'Magnificent Seven' tech stocks report to the market.

Stock futures were little changed across the three main Wall Street indices, with the Dow expected to hold at Monday night's close of 38,001.81 - the first time ever that it passed the psychologically important barrier of 38,000 - while the S&P 500 was steady at the previous closing level of 4,850.43. Nasdaq futures were also flat as the tech-heavy index trades a two-year high.

"Thus far we have seen a particular focus on the banking sector, with 30% of the financials having reported. However, we will be looking for greater insight into US consumers today, with both cyclicals and non-cyclicals having thus far struggled to match market expectations around revenues," said analyst Joshua Mahony from Scope Markets.

No major economic data is scheduled for the session, though investors will start to look ahead to Friday's personal consumption expenditures release, which is forecast to show that the annual rate of inflation eased to 3.0% in December from 3.2% in November - which was already the lowest level since April 2021