Opening Bell: Futures, Europe Stocks Slide Ahead Of Earnings Season; Oil Drops

 | Jul 12, 2021 07:21AM ET

  • Treasury rally weighs on stocks
  • Tech futures the only bright spot on the Monday board
  • Oil extends its decline
  • Key Events/h2

    US futures contracts on the Dow, S&P and Russell 2000, as well as European stocks, headed lower in trading on Monday ahead of the start of the US earnings season. Upcoming reports will be closely watched as a gauge to determine whether the economic recovery can withstand rising inflation and the persistent spread of the Delta strain of the coronavirus. Futures on the NASDAQ, however, moved slightly higher after the underlying index posted new records last week

    Gold traded lower. 

    Global Financial Affairs/h2

    We expect stocks to whipsaw as second-quarter earnings season kicks-off with banks reporting.

    On Tuesday ahead of the US open, Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) and JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) will report followed by Bank of America (NYSE:BAC), BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) and Citigroup (NYSE:C) which report ahead of the open on Wednesday. We expect markets will react to every piece of news regarding inflation, the coronavirus and the path to US monetary tightening. 

    Once again, the market has flipped from Friday’s reflation-led rally back to growth sectors, led by technology. NASDAQ 100 contracts were the only major index in the green, up 0.2%, while Russell 2000 futures underperformed, 0.4% deep in the red.

    After opening with swings between gains and losses, the STOXX 600 index was pulled lower by banks and commodity producers—reflation sectors— overshadowing a rally in real estate and utilities.

    After taking profits on Friday, bond traders ended the 8-day straight decline for yields. We have argued that investors have been increasing Treasury holdings to protect their capital on concerns that the virus, more so than inflation, is hurting the recovery as the appetite for the 10-year Treasury note far surpassed the demand for gold or copper, two other inflation hedges.

    Treasuries are likely to have an impact on markets this week as new economic data prints, including key inflation data on Tuesday, the June consumer price index, which will offer insight into inflationary pressures, and Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell’s semi-annual testimony to Congress.