Stock futures changed little in overnight trading on Monday after Wall Street got off to a sour start to the week.
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 20 points. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures both fell 0.1%.
The market suffered losses earlier in the week, with the blue-chip Dow dropping 250 points. The S&P 500 fell 0.7% on Monday, with nine of the 11 sectors posting losses, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was down 0.6%.
“There is a lot of headwinds when we tackle corporate earnings and traders will be looking for any clue to forecast, especially given the risk of slower growth,” said Chris Larkin, managing director of trading at E. -Trade finances. “As new data emerges and traders gain potential insights into the growth outlook, it may be wise to prepare for more bumps along the way.”
JPMorgan Chase and other major banks are nearing the start of the third quarter reporting season later this week. According to Refinitiv, earnings growth is expected to increase about 30% year over year this quarter after rising 96.3% in the second quarter.
“Expectations for third quarter results have been falling in recent weeks and that should leave some room for upside surprise, which is good for general market sentiment,” said Rod von Lipsey, managing director of UBS Private Wealth Management.
Investors will be tracking the latest employment data on Tuesday when the Department of Labor releases its survey on job vacancies and labor turnover. Economists polled by Dow Jones expect 10.9 million vacancies in August, unchanged from the total number in July.
The stock market took a bumpy ride in September, with the S&P 500 dropping 4.8% on its worst month since March 2020 and breaking a seven-month winning streak.
Wall Street’s top strategists see subdued returns for the remainder of 2021 as the S&P 500’s average year-end target is 4,433, less than 2% from Monday’s closing price, according to the CNBC Market Strategist Survey.