Futures under pressure as Treasury yields climb; earnings on tap

[February 05, 2024]  (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures dipped on Monday, pressured by rising Treasury yields, as investors turned cautious on the timing of interest rate cuts while awaiting more quarterly reports from corporate America.

In a gloomy start to the week, two-year Treasury yields jumped to a one-month high at 4.4% after Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said in an interview aired on Sunday that he wanted to wait to be a little more confident that inflation was sustainably falling before moving interest rates lower.

While investors are relieved by latest data that showed the labor market has been holding up against the tightest credit conditions seen in years, uncertainty on when borrowing costs might be lowered have hurt risky assets sporadically.

Traders now expect a 64% chance that at least a 25 basis point (bps) rate cut could be delivered in May and a near 100% chance in June, as per the CME FedWatch Tool.

Investors also took a breather from a recent bull-market run on Wall Street that saw the benchmark S&P 500 index and the blue-chips Dow end at record high levels on Friday, boosted by solid results from Meta Platforms and Amazon.com.

Results are now in from nearly half of the S&P 500 firms and fourth-quarter earnings estimate is improving sharply, with about 80% of the reports so far beating analysts' expectations, according to LSEG data on Friday.

With results from most tech heavyweights in the rear-view mirror, focus is on economy bell weather Caterpillar, Estee Lauder and McDonald's due before market open, while legacy names like Eli Lilly, Ford and PepsiCo are expected through the week.

Traders will also parse the Institute of Supply Management's (ISM) non-manufacturing survey for January later in the day for more clues on the health of the domestic economy.

Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., January 29, 2024. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo

Also lined up through the day are remarks from Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee and Atlanta Fed chief Raphael Bostic, who will kick off a slew of commentary from a number of policymakers due through the week.

At 5:39 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 73 points, or 0.19%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 6.75 points, or 0.14%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 13 points, or 0.07%.

Dow component Boeing dropped 2.2% in trading before the bell after saying a new quality glitch in some 737 MAX planes will delay some deliveries.

Tesla lost 1.2% after brokerage Piper Sandler slashed its price target for the electric-vehicle maker to $225 from $295.

New York Community Bancorp added 0.1%, with investors jittery following last week's upheaval among mid-sized lenders. NYCB closed up 5% in the previous session.

Cano Health sank 51.7% after the primary-care provider filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and said it entered into a restructuring support agreement to reduce debt and solicit potential offers, including the sale of the firm.

(Reporting by Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)

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