Market Snapshot: U.S. stock futures edge lower on eve of earnings season

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U.S. stock futures slipped Monday, as traders continued to react to a jobs report that showed weaker-than-forecast employment growth, as investors prepare for the release of third-quarter earnings.

What’s happening
  • Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average
    YM00,
    -0.16%

    slipped 52 points, or 0.2%, to 34574

  • Futures on the S&P 500
    ES00,
    -0.25%

    fell 11 points, or 0.2%, to 4,372

  • Futures on the Nasdaq 100
    NQ00,
    -0.38%

    dropped 44 points, or 0.3%, to 14764

On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
-0.03%

fell 9 points, or 0.03%, to 34746, the S&P 500
SPX,
-0.19%

declined 8 points, or 0.19%, to 4391, and the Nasdaq Composite
COMP,
-0.51%

dropped 74 points, or 0.51%, to 14580.

What’s driving markets

With no economic releases due on Columbus Day, and the U.S. bond market closed, analysts were left dissecting the report that showed 194,000 nonfarm jobs added in September.

“Friday’s U.S. employment report was sufficiently mixed to revive the debate over the whether the Fed will really go ahead with the planned tapering next month. Despite the headline miss, the underlying numbers should just about meet Chair Powell’s requirement of ‘decent’ and ensure that the existing schedule remains intact,” said Ian Williams, strategist at U.K. broker Peel Hunt.

He added that the upcoming third-quarter earnings season will be even more crucial in supporting valuations as yields rise. Major U.S. banks including JPMorgan Chase
JPM,
+0.08%
,
Bank of America
BAC,
+0.50%

and Citigroup
C,
+0.22%

are due to report results this week.

Analysts have expressed concern that supply-chain issues that have spread throughout the global economy will compress profit margins, and that inflation will limit consumer demand.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury
TMUBMUSD10Y,
1.612%

rose 14 basis points last week to 1.60%, the biggest weekly gain since Feb. 19.

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