The US stock futures fell Tuesday, indicating a second day of losses for a stock market that had risen steadily to break record after record.
The Dow Jones Industrial average futures fell 155 points, or 0.5%. S&P 500 futures lost 0.4%. Nasdaq 100 futures were also down 0.4%.
Procter & Gamble stock was down 1% in premarket trading even after the consumer giant reported quarterly earnings that exceeded expectations as pandemic trends in home care continued and beauty sales increased.
Johnson & Johnson shares were flat in early trading after earnings and sales turned out to be better than expected. The company reported $ 100 million in sales for its Covid-19 vaccine in the first quarter, which is on hold in the US while US health officials investigate a rare blood clotting problem.
Another Dow component, Travelers Companies, also remained stable despite quarterly results that beat Wall Street’s estimates. The company also increased its quarterly cash dividend and approved additional share buybacks of $ 5 billion.
“The key to determining this is the sustainability of these earnings growth,” said Tom Essaye, founder of Sevens Report. “Most of the factors that lead to these results are typically considered to be unique.”
The main averages fell on Monday, reflecting the general weakness in the tech sector. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost more than 120 points, hurt by a more than 1.5% drop in Intel stock. The S&P 500 fell more than 0.5%.
The Nasdaq Composite was the relative underperformer, falling nearly 1% as Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft all closed lower. Tesla fell more than 3% over the weekend as Bitcoin – which makes up part of Tesla’s balance sheet – fell after an all-time high of $ 64,841 on Wednesday morning, according to Coin Metrics.
The small-cap benchmark Russell 2000 fell 1.4% on Monday and was set for further losses on Tuesday, with futures on the index falling 0.8%.
The Dow and S&P 500 closed on records on Friday and the Dow topped 34,000 levels for the first time last week.
The first quarter earnings season got off to a good start last week, major US banks reported. Financial results exceeded expectations by 38%, while others in the S&P 500 surprised upward by 12%, according to data from Credit Suisse.
Streaming giant Netflix is set to publish numbers after the bell. Wall Street analysts expected Netflix to remain a winner in the streaming arena even as the pandemic recovery improves.
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