Wall St set to open mixed as target turns to earnings and economic data

Wall Street’s main indexes were set to open mixed on Monday after rallying to new peaks in the previous session, with investors awaiting the start of the second-quarter earnings season and a batch of economic data.

The three major U.S. stock indexes notched record closing highs on Friday as financials and other economically focused sectors rebounded from a selloff sparked by growth worries earlier last week.

Starting Tuesday, earnings reports are due from JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and other big banks, with market participants looking for early clues on the economy and stocks tied to growth.

Shares of the big lenders fell between 0.5% and 0.6% in premarket trading.

Second-quarter earnings for S&P 500 companies are expected to rise 65.8%, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

“Great earnings results are already baked into the market,” said Thomas Hayes, chairman of Great Hill Capital LLC in New York.

“The name of the game is guidance we need to see what managements have to say about their outlook to support current valuations and beyond.”

People are seen on Wall Street outside the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., March 19, 2021. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Focus will also on a bunch of economic reports including headline U.S. inflation data and retail sales later in the week, while also watching Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s testimony before Congress on Wednesday and Thursday for views on inflation and the timing for tapering.

Wall Street has been dictated by concerns over higher inflation and the spread of the Delta coronavirus variant in the past few sessions, with investors seesawing between economy linked-value stocks and tech-heavy growth names.

“The inflation data is likely going to reignite some concern in the near term over how hot things are running,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at National Securities in New York.

“CPI (consumer price index) and PPI (producer price index) coming in above estimates will bring back that tug of war between growth and inflation.”

At 8:36 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 128 points, or 0.37% and S&P 500 e-minis were down 4.5 points, or 0.1%.

Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 59.75 points, or 0.4%, as shares of the big FAANG group of companies edged higher.

Didi Global Inc fell 3.0% after it confirmed China’s cyberspace administration notified app stores to remove the ride-hailing company’s 25 apps and said the move could impact its revenue in the region.

Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc jumped 1.7% after the space tourism company successfully completed first fully crewed test flight into space with founder Richard Branson on board its Virgin Galactic rocket plane.

(Reporting by Devik Jain and Shreyashi Sanyal in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)