On Tuesday, U.S. stock indexes were set for a muted open ahead of the earnings reports that are scheduled late in the day of some of the most valuable companies on Wall Street in the run-up to the Fed meeting of two days. This week, quarterly results of more than one-third of the S&P 500 are due, which are led by Apple, Google-parent Alphabet, Microsoft, and Amazon, which are four of the largest companies in the US, in terms of market value. There was a 0.2% to 0.5% increase in Apple, Microsoft, and Alphabet in premarket trade.
Their earnings report are scheduled to be disclosed after the markets close, whereas Amazon’s results will be published on Thursday. Market analysts said that the markets were expected to be in a sideways, quiet mode until some of the results are disclosed because it tends to be more reactive, rather than proactive. There are high expectations regarding growth in earnings and the bar of comparison is very low, considering that it is being compared to 2020 when most of the economy had shut down. Investors were still on edge, as they were waiting for the central bank to signal when it will start reining in its extensive stimulus program.
The two-day long Fed meeting is also scheduled to begin later in the day. The Fed is expected to continue the same policy this week, but there could be hints about tightening in August during the Jackson Hole Symposium. There was a 0.14% decline or 6.25 points in the US S&P 500 E-minis. Dow E-minis fell by 0.24% or 84 points, whereas Nasdaq 100 E-minis experienced a gain of 0.03% or 4 points. Of the total S&P 500 constituents, a total of 124 companies have disclosed their earnings reports so far and 88.7% of these have managed to surpass expectations.
There was a 1.4% increase in the price of Tesla Inc. in premarket trade as the electric-car maker managed to post a better-than-expected profit for the second quarter of the year. This was primarily due to the higher number of sales of its less-expensive vehicles. The declines in US-listed Chinese stocks continued for the third straight day and this was mostly because of fears regarding more regulations being introduced in the mainland. There was a 4.5% and 3.2% decline in the price of Baidu and Alibaba, respectively.
As far as General Electric is concerned, it experienced a gain of 4% after it increased its annual forecast of free cash flow. This was because the company surprisingly managed to report a positive cash flow in the second quarter of the year as revenue and industrial orders returned to growth. There was a -1.147% decline in the yield on 10-year Treasury securities that are inflation-protected on Tuesday, which means they were down by 4 basis points. Recent falls were also extended by German inflation-linked bond yields, as they reached a new low at -1.747%.