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U.S. stock futures weakened Tuesday, ahead of data that may show a decline in retail sales.
What’s happening
-
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average
YM00,
-0.41%
fell 126 points; -
Futures on the S&P 500
ES00,
-0.43%
fell 0.4%; -
Futures on the Nasdaq 100
NQ00,
-0.39%
lost 0.3%.
U.S. stocks recovered Monday from early losses, as the S&P 500
SPX,
notched its 49th record close of 2021 and extending a winning run to five sessions. The Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
also established its fifth straight record, while the Nasdaq Composite
COMP,
weakened by 0.2%.
What’s driving markets
Retail sales highlights a busy slate of economic releases due for release. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal expect a 0.3% monthly drop in sales in July, or a 0.2% gain when autos are excluded.
Results from retailing giants Home Depot
HD,
and Walmart
WMT,
are also set for release.
Despite recent economic reports coming in weaker than forecast in both the U.S. and China, equities have gathered strength, thanks to strong earnings.
“Although it’s disquieting, strong corporate earnings, low U.S. yields and a relatively soft U.S. dollar are the major catalysts for the U.S. market rally. But the cliff between the economic indicators and the equity prices is somewhat unreasonable, hinting that there is potential for a sizeable downside correction,” said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote.
Analysts at DataTrek Research say Wall Street estimates on S&P 500 earnings per share, of $201 per share, are actually lower than the annualized EPS produced by companies in the second quarter, which equates to $208. “Would you sell a stock if you had a strong belief that earnings estimates were too low? Probably not. The same point goes for entire markets as well,” they said in a note to clients.
Also of note, the Hang Seng
HSI,
slumped 1.7% after China published draft rules on competition and data security in the technology sector.
