(Reuters) – Futures tracking Wall Street’s main stock indexes edged lower on Friday as investors looked ahead to earnings reports from big U.S. banks, while Treasury yields eased after a spike in the previous session.
JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Citigroup are scheduled to report quarterly numbers before the opening bell.
Profits at the biggest U.S. consumer lenders are likely to rise in the third quarter, in contrast with investment banks that are still facing a dealmaking slump, analysts said.
Asset manager BlackRock, health insurer UnitedHealth Group and regional lender PNC Financial are also slated to report earnings.
“Even as market prices have fallen over the past several weeks, earnings estimates for the year ahead have continued to rise,” Rob Swanke, senior market strategist at Commonwealth Financial Network, said in a note.
Options traders are bracing for larger-than-usual post-earnings stock price swings for some U.S. banks, despite signs of cooling volatility in broader markets, options data showed.
A survey of large banks released by the Fed Bank of New York on Thursday showed the Fed has about a year left to run on its efforts to shrink its still massive stock of cash and securities.
Remarks from Fed Bank of Philadelphia President Patrick Harker, a voting member on the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) this year, would also be on investors’ radar during the day.
Federal Reserve Bank of Boston President Susan Collins said on Thursday the latest inflation data underscores uneven progress toward restoring price stability, in comments that reiterated her view that the central bank may have to raise rates again.
Traders put the chance of interest rates remaining unchanged in November and December at around 90% and around 67%, respectively, according to CME’s FedWatch tool.
Yields eased a day after data showed surging shelter costs pushed consumer prices higher last month while the annual increase in the core figure, excluding volatile food and energy components, was the smallest in two years.
An auction of U.S. Treasury auction bonds had sent yields higher on Thursday, pushing the three main U.S. stock indexes to their first decline in five days. Still, they are on track to register gains for the week.
On the data front, a preliminary estimate of the University of Michigan’s October Consumer Sentiment Index is due at 10 a.m. ET.
At 5:07 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 6 points, or 0.02%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 4.75 points, or 0.11%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 37.75 points, or 0.25%.
Investors are also keeping an eye on the conflict in Israel. The country’s military has called for all civilians of Gaza City, more than 1 million people, to relocate south within 24 hours, as it amassed tanks ahead of an expected ground invasion after a devastating attack by the militant group Hamas.
Among stocks, Dollar General added 7.4% in premarket trading after the discount store retailer brought back former chief Todd Vasos to replace CEO Jeffery Owen.
(Reporting by Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)
