U.S. stock index futures were about unchanged during overnight trading on Sunday, after the major averages posted their best week in months amid a stronger-than-expected start to earnings season.
Futures contracts tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed just 23 points. S&P 500 futures lost 0.1%, while Nasdaq 100 futures lost 0.2%.
The major averages are coming off a winning week. The Dow advanced 382 points on Friday, ending the week with a 1.58% gain for its best week since June. The S&P 500 rose 1.82% last week for its best week since July, while the Nasdaq Composite saw its best week since the end of August, with the tech-heavy index adding 2.18%.
In addition to better-than-expected earnings from Goldman Sachs on Friday, positive economic data also boosted stocks. Retail sales rose 0.7% in September, the Census Bureau said Friday, while economists surveyed by Dow Jones were expecting a decline of 0.2%.
“Wall Street was expecting a slowdown in spending, but it turns out the U.S. consumer is not to be messed with,” said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda. “Back-to-back months of better-than-expected retail sales data shows the consumer looks strong heading into the holiday season,” he added.
Earnings season is now in full swing, and a number of big names are set to report in the coming week, including Netflix, Johnson & Johnson, United Airlines and Procter & Gamble on Tuesday. Tesla, Verizon and IBM are among the other names on deck for the week.
So far 41 S&P 500 components have reported third-quarter results, with 80% of them topping EPS expectations, according to data from FactSet. Taking into account the companies that have already reported and estimates for the rest, third-quarter profit growth will total 30%, the third highest quarterly growth rate for S&P 500 companies since 2010, according to FactSet.
Strong results from the first week of earnings, including from the largest banks, have pushed the major averages to within striking distance of their all-time highs. The Dow is less than 1% from its record high, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite are 1.6% and 3.3% below their records respectively.
As earnings season gets into full swing, investors will be watching for company commentary around supply chain bottlenecks and inflation, among other things.
“Growth in 2022 seems likely to be lifted by the lagged impacts of monetary stimulus, the lagged impacts of surging Consumer Net Worth, reopening, and inventory rebuilding,” Ed Hyman, Evercore ISI Chairman, wrote in a note to clients Sunday. “Supply chain problems are likely to ease, and unfilled demand from this year is likely to be met next year. Wages are likely to increase, lifting consumer incomes,” he added.
Bitcoin pulled back from its recent high, but held above $60,000 on Sunday, according to data from Coin Metrics, as the first bitcoin futures exchanged-traded fund gets set to begin trading this week.
Bitcoin moved higher on Friday in anticipation that such a listing could come. The world’s largest cryptocurrency topped $60,000 last week for the first time since April, trading as high as $62,307.
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