United States stock futures ticked lower on Sunday evening (Monday AEST) as investors prepared for a deluge of corporate earnings results this week.
By 8:45 am AEST (10:45 pm GMT), futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500, and Nasdaq 100 each declined by 0.2%, signalling a cautious start to the trading week.
Markets are bracing for a heavy slate of corporate results, with more than 180 S&P 500 companies scheduled to report. Among the key names are four members of the Magnificent Seven - Amazon, Apple, Meta Platforms, and Microsoft - whose performances will offer critical insights into the health of the technology sector.
Quarterly updates are also expected from major firms such as Visa, Coca-Cola, Eli Lilly, and Berkshire Hathaway.
This week will mark the conclusion of April trading, a month characterised by heightened volatility following President Donald Trump's aggressive tariff proposals. Uncertainty surrounding the implementation and potential revisions of these trade policies has fuelled market turbulence, keeping investors on edge.
As April draws to a close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has declined by 4.5%, while the S&P 500 has fallen by 1.5%. The Nasdaq Composite, buoyed by tech sector resilience, has gained 0.5% over the month.
On the data front, the latest University of Michigan consumer sentiment index revealed a fourth consecutive monthly decline over the weekend.
Sentiment dropped 8% from March, with the Expectations Index suffering a steep fall due to growing concerns over personal finances and broader business conditions. Since January, expectations have plunged by 32%, marking the sharpest three-month percentage decline since the 1990 recession.
Year-ahead inflation expectations also jumped from 5.0% in the previous month to 6.5% this month, the highest level since 1981.
