Futures point to flat opening on Wall Street

[April 09, 2019]  By Sruthi Shankar

(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures pointed to a flat open for Wall Street on Tuesday, as focus shifts to the first-quarter earnings season that kicks off later this week.

Global stocks were on edge after the United States threatened to slap tariffs on hundreds of European goods on Monday as retaliation for subsidies given to Airbus, while expectations of another cut to the IMF's global growth forecasts added to worries.

The European Union has begun preparations to retaliate over Boeing Co subsidies, an EU official said.

Boeing's shares were down 0.2% in premarket trading.

Earnings begin in earnest, with Delta Air Lines Inc reporting on Wednesday followed by big U.S. lenders later this week.

Investors, however, are bracing for the first quarter of contracting earnings since 2016. January-March profits for S&P 500 companies are expected to fall 2.3% from last year, according to Refinitiv data.

At 7:15 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 6 points, or 0.02%. S&P 500 e-minis were down 2 points, or 0.07% and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 7.75 points, or 0.1%.

Among other early movers, Walt Disney Co inched up 0.9% after Cowen and Co raised its rating on the company to "outperform", citing its strong pipeline of products.

United States Steel Corp fell 3.7% after Credit Suisse downgraded the stock to "underperform".

(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar and Shreyashi Sanyal in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)

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