Dow futures slip ahead of tech earnings, start of Fed meeting

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Investing.com — U.S. stock futures traded marginally lower Tuesday, as investors awaited earnings from a series of tech giants while the Federal Reserve starts its latest two-day policy-setting meeting.

By 06:55 ET (11:55 GMT), the Dow Futures contract was down 65 points, or 0.2%, S&P 500 Futures traded 7 points, or 0.1%, lower and Nasdaq 100 Futures dropped 15 points, or 0.1%.

The main U.S. averages closed higher on Monday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 recording their sixth record closes of the year. The Nasdaq Composite, however, was the star, ending over 1% higher.

Tech giants set to report

This quarterly earnings season is now in full swing, with 19% of the S&P 500 set to report this week, including tech giants Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and AMD (NASDAQ:AMD) after the close Tuesday.

Collectively, the market capitalization of Alphabet, Microsoft, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Meta (NASDAQ:META) account for nearly 25% of the S&P 500, giving them an outsize influence on the performance of the broader index.

Outside of tech, General Motors (NYSE:GM) and United Parcel Service (NYSE:UPS) are among well-known companies sharing results before the bell on Tuesday, while Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) is due after the market closes.

Fed meeting starts

The Federal Reserve starts its latest two-day policy-setting meeting later in the session, and is widely expected to keep interest rates on hold at more than two-decade highs when the meeting concludes on Wednesday.

The Fed signaled in December that it could reduce rates six times this year, and investors will watch for updates out of the meeting for clues as to when the first full quarter-point rate cut arrives.

Tuesday’s economic calendar includes data on JOLTS job openings, which kicks off a week of domestic jobs data, culminating in the January U.S. payrolls report on Friday. The data will give further indications of the state of the world’s largest economy.

Crude steadies amid Middle East tensions

Oil prices steadied Tuesday after the previous session’s losses, as escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East fuelled supply concerns.

By 06:15 ET, the U.S. crude futures traded 0.3% higher at $76.98 a barrel, while the Brent contract traded 0.1% higher at $81.91 a barrel.

Crude markets are on edge after the U.S. vowed to take “all necessary actions” to defend its troops following a deadly drone attack in Jordan by Iran-backed militants, potentially resulting in regional energy supply disruptions in the oil-rich Middle East.

The crude contracts fell over $1 on Monday as a deepening real estate crisis fuelled worries about demand from China, the world’s biggest crude consumer.

Additionally, gold futures rose 0.4% to $2,052.45/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.1% higher at 1.0838.

(Oliver Gray contributed to this article.)

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