Dow, S&P futures edge lower as focus turns to earnings, economic data By Reuters

By Devik Jain

(Reuters) – Futures tracking the Dow and the indexes edged lower on Monday after Wall Street rallied to new peaks in the previous session, with investors awaiting the start of the second-quarter earning season and a batch of economic data.

The three major U.S. stock indexes notched record closing highs on Friday as financials and other economically focused sectors rebounded from a selloff sparked by growth worries earlier last week.

Starting Tuesday, earnings reports are due from JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:), Goldman Sachs (NYSE:), Bank of America (NYSE:) and other big banks, with market participants looking for early clues on the economy and stocks tied to growth.

Shares of the big lenders fell between 0.9% and 1.0% in premarket trading.

Second-quarter earnings for S&P 500 companies are expected to rise 65.8%, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Focus will also on a bunch of economic reports including headline U.S. inflation data and retail sales later in the week, while also watching Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s testimony before Congress on Wednesday and Thursday for views on inflation and the timing for tapering.

Wall Street has been dictated by concerns over higher inflation and the spread of the Delta coronavirus variant in the past few sessions, with investors seesawing between economy linked-value stocks and tech-heavy growth names.

At 7:02 a.m. ET, were down 159 points, or 0.46%, were down 11 points, or 0.25%, and were up 29 points, or 0.2%.

Didi Global Inc fell 3.9% after it confirmed China’s cyberspace administration notified app stores to remove the ride-hailing company’s 25 apps and said the move could impact its China revenue.

Virgin Galactic Holdings (NYSE:) Inc jumped 7.7% after the space tourism company successfully completed first fully crewed test flight into space with founder Richard Branson on board its Virgin Galactic rocket plane.