(Bloomberg) — Stocks remained within a narrow range ahead of a slew of company earnings that should provide insight into the state of the global economy.
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S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures rose slightly. United Airlines Holdings Inc., Verizon Communications Inc. and Johnson & Johnson Inc. rose in premarket trading after earnings beat expectations. Procter & Gamble fell after sales fell short of expectations as high prices weighed on U.S. consumer spending.
Netflix, which made its first major foray into live events by announcing a deal with World Wrestling Entertainment, plans to announce the results after the deal closes. As New Hampshire voters head to the polls, investors are also keeping an eye on the outcome of the Republican presidential primary.
“So far there are no signs of a recession in the U.S., which is why the fourth quarter earnings season is so important,” said Kenneth Bruce, a strategist at Société Générale in London. “Investors will want to know what guidance companies will provide heading into 2024 in terms of consumer demand and profit margins.”
Stocks have largely ignored the Federal Reserve’s warnings that interest rate cuts are still a long way off. Rather, they have praised the economy’s resilience even after the most aggressive cycle of policy tightening in decades.
U.S.-listed Chinese stocks also rose in pre-market trading after Bloomberg News reported that the Chinese government is considering a series of measures to stabilize a falling stock market. The Hang Seng Index rose 2.6%.
Central banks are in the spotlight this week. The Bank of Japan kept interest rates unchanged, but Governor Kazuo Ueda said the certainty of achieving the forecast continued to gradually increase.
This language confirms the widespread view among economists that the Bank of Japan will raise interest rates at some point in the first half of this year. The swap sees a 45% chance of a rate hike by the April meeting, rising to 100% by the July meeting.
Investors’ attention now turns to Thursday’s meeting of the European Central Bank and whether officials will signal the start of policy easing. Stoxx600 index is almost unchanged.
Corporate highlights
Johnson & Johnson’s fourth-quarter profit exceeded most analysts’ expectations as medical device sales continued to recover and drug sales beat expectations.
Verizon rose after the carrier’s 2024 adjusted earnings per share outlook beat analysts’ average expectations.
Shares of major homebuilder DR Houghton fell after it said quarterly orders were lower than expected.
Coinbase Global fell after JPMorgan lowered its recommendation on the cryptocurrency platform operator’s stock to underweight.
This week’s main events:
The nation’s first presidential primary will be held in New Hampshire on Tuesday.
European Central Bank releases bank lending survey on Tuesday
Canadian interest rate decision Wednesday
Eurozone S&P Global Services and Manufacturing PMI, Wednesday
US S&P Global Services and Manufacturing PMI, Wednesday
Eurozone ECB interest rate decision Thursday
Germany IFO Business Environment Thursday
US GDP, new unemployment claims, durable goods, wholesale inventories, new home sales, Thursday
Japan Tokyo CPI, Friday
US Personal Income and Expenditures, Friday
Bank of Japan issues minutes of policy meeting on Friday
The main movements in the market are:
stock
As of 1:20 p.m. London time, the Stoxx European 600 was down 0.1%.
S&P 500 futures rose 0.1%
Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.2%
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell 0.1%.
MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.3%
MSCI Emerging Markets Index rose 0.4%
currency
Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index little changed
The euro fell 0.1% to $1.0870.
The Japanese yen remained almost unchanged at 147.98 yen to the dollar.
The offshore yuan rose 0.4% to 7.1660 yuan to the dollar.
The British pound was almost unchanged at $1.2716.
cryptocurrency
Bitcoin fell 2.1% to $38,983.5.
Ether fell 4.7% to $2,215.51.
bond
The 10-year Treasury yield rose 2 basis points to 4.12%.
Germany’s 10-year bond yield rose 2 basis points to 2.31%.
The UK 10-year bond yield rose 5 basis points to 3.95%.
merchandise
Brent crude oil fell 0.9% to $79.30 per barrel.
Spot gold rose 0.3% to $2,027.97 an ounce.
This article was produced in partnership with Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Jason Scott, Divya Patil, and Winnie Hsu.
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