Futures pointed to a subdued open for Wall Street's main indexes on Tuesday, as investors took a breather after a rally in the previous session and parsed a mixed set of quarterly results from companies such as UnitedHealth and Bank of America.
Losses in semiconductor companies and oil stocks also weighed on sentiment, with AI-darling Nvidia down 0.7% in premarket trading following a record high close on Monday, after a report the U.S. is considering limiting exports of advanced artificial intelligence chips from the company and other U.S. peers to some countries.
Shares of Advanced Micro Devices lost 1%.
Meanwhile, oil companies tumbled, with Exxon Mobil and Occidental Petroleum down 2.7% and 3%, respectively, as crude prices dropped 4%.
Among a slew of earnings, health insurer UnitedHealth dropped 3.7% after reporting a surge in medical costs in the third quarter. Johnson & Johnson also reversed course to fall 1%, despite lifting its annual profit and sales forecast.
Dow E-minis were down 12 points, or 0.03%, U.S. S&P 500 E-minis were up 1.25 points, or 0.02%, Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 0.75 points, or flat.
"Nothing has really happened just yet to offer any good guidance for investors," said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research.
On a brighter note, financial shares gained ground after several major banks reported results, adding to optimism around the sector after a set of reports from institutions including JPMorgan Chase kicked off the third-quarter reporting season on an upbeat note last week.
Bank of America jumped 2% after beating third-quarter profit estimates, Goldman Sachs was up 2.9% as its profit rose on a continued boost from investment banking, while Charles Schwab soared 9.4% after beating estimates.
"The financial sector (is) experiencing upward revisions to third-quarter earnings estimates, but all that's happening is that it's going from a low single digit gain to a mid-single digit gain - certainly not knocking the ball out of the park," Stovall said.
A number of S&P 500 companies are scheduled to report results throughout the week, which will help investors gauge the health of the U.S. economy. Large companies will also need to justify their expensive stock valuations, particularly in the tech sector, where valuations have grown increasingly inflated in the past year.
All three major indexes jumped on Monday, with the S&P 500 and Dow Jones notching record highs for the second consecutive session.
The Dow closed above the 43,000-mark for the first time, while the benchmark S&P 500 is nearing the psychologically significant 6,000 level.
Boeing rose 1.1% after the planemaker filed to raise up to $25 billion through a stock and debt offering and entered into a $10 billion credit agreement amid a crippling strike and upcoming debt maturities.
Traders are pricing in about an 88% chance the Fed will cut rates by 25 basis points in November and a slight probability it will leave rates unchanged, according to CME's FedWatch.
Speeches from Federal Reserve officials Adriana Kugler, Mary Daly and Raphael Bostic are also on deck, while economic data including monthly retail sales figures are due on Thursday. - Reuters
