U.S. stock futures edged lower Tuesday, hurt by Walmart cutting profit guidance ahead of a wave of corporate earnings.
What’s happening
- Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average YM00, -0.43% fell 113 points, or 0.4%, to 31854.
- Futures on the S&P 500 ES00, -0.27% dropped 9.75 points, or 0.3%, to 3960.
- Futures on the Nasdaq 100 NQ00, -0.26% decreased 38 points, or 0.3%, to 12317.
On Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.28% rose 91 points, or 0.28%, to 31990, the S&P 500 SPX, +0.13% increased 5 points, or 0.13%, to 3967, and the Nasdaq Composite COMP, -0.43% dropped 51 points, or 0.43%, to 11783.
What’s driving markets
Walmart WMT, -0.14% late Monday cut its profit outlook, saying inflation on food has caused it to conduct more markdowns in apparel. The opposite side of that coin was Unilever UL, +0.26%, as the maker of Hellmann’s mayonnaise and Ben & Jerry’s ice cream said price rises were able to offset reduced volume.
“It was a steady start for most markets to a big earnings week, until Walmart issued a warning after hours. The stock lost 10% and there was negative read-across for the rest of the U.S. consumer sector,” said Ian Williams, strategist at U.K. broker Peel Hunt.
A massive slate of earnings includes McDonald’s, MCD, -1.42% General Motors GM, -0.43%, Coca Cola KO, +0.97%, and after the close, tech titans Alphabet GOOGL, -0.36% and Microsoft MSFT, -0.59%.
The Federal Reserve starts its two-day interest-rate-setting meeting, and the economic calendar also includes house prices and, shortly after the open, consumer confidence and new-home sales reports.