U.S. stock -index futures pointed to a second day of losses Tuesday, with investors bracing for a deluge of corporate results as earnings reporting season moves into full swing.
What are major indexes doing? On Monday, stocks suffered modest losses, with the Dow DJIA, -0.36% shedding 123.04 points, or 0.4%, while the S&P 500 SPX, -0.53% fell 0.5% as both indexes pulled back from record finishes posted Friday. The Nasdaq Composite COMP, -0.98% shed 1%. What’s driving the market? Earnings reports, which are off to a strong start for the quarter, will remain under scrutiny as investors gauge the strength of the economic recovery from COVID-19 pandemic, analysts said. Guidance from companies on the outlook for the year ahead may be even more important in determining market direction.
“Corporate outlooks may indicate whether the rally from last year’s low could continue,” said Charalambos Pissouros, senior market analyst at JFD Group, in a note.