Dow Jones futures fell slightly from their original value, and S&P 500 futures fell 0.1%. Additionally, Nasdaq 100 futures also fell 0.1% from their initial price.
The yield on the 10-year US Treasury fell to 3.458% on Tuesday, shedding 1.84%. However, the 10-year yield is trying to recover after three consecutive weeks of declines which took it to its lowest level since mid-September. US Crude Oil prices eased from the gains they made earlier in the day. West Texas Intermediate futures fell to $81.68 a barrel, close to last week’s peak.
Last week’s economic data revealed a decline in wholesale prices and retail sales, which, together with comments from central bank officials, gave indications of a slowdown.
Christopher Waller, the governor of the Federal Reserve, said on Friday that a quarter-percentage point hike could be expected at the upcoming conference, which has instilled optimism among investors for a recession.
On Sunday, the Wall Street Journal suggested that the Fed may be nearing completion of its rate-hiking efforts and could take a breather in the spring.
However, investors’ attention is always focused on company earnings announcements. So far, more than half of the companies have exceeded projections in the current earnings cycle. Refinitiv says that of the 57 S&P 500 companies that have reported fourth-quarter results, 63% have released figures that beat expectations.
Earnings growth was less than normal due to rising interest rates and fears of an economic downturn. The companies disclosed earnings 2.4% higher than expected, which isn’t as high as 4.1% above estimates which is the long-term average, and not as high as 5.3% in recent four quarters.
