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U.S. equity futures edged higher Tuesday, while Treasury yields and the dollar held steady, as investors looked ahead to Nvidia’s earnings later in the week to extend the market’s surprising August gains into the autumn months.
Stocks wavered into the close of trading Monday, with the S&P 500 ending modestly lower on the session, and the Nasdaq drifting similarly into the red, as investors pared their risk exposure to Nvidia (NVDA) ahead of its highly-anticipated second quarter after the closing bell on Wednesday.
Wall Street forecasts are pointing to a consensus bottom line of 64 cents a share a 137% increase from the last year, with revenues more than doubling to $28.55 billion.
Nvidia told investors in May that current-quarter revenue would rise to around $28 billion, at the time stronger-than-expected estimate assuaged investors’ concern about delays for orders of H100 chips tied to the launch of its new Blackwell processors.
Nvidia earnings will be the focus of Wall Street this week as the market’s second-biggest stock guides investors on AI chip demand into the back half of the year.
Nvidia earnings, as well as a key reading of the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, the PCE price index, are likely to highlight a difficult week for Wall Street as investors look to protect their hard-fought August gains amid thin holiday liquidity and a dearth of headline events heading into the Labor Day weekend.
Only 16 S&P 500 companies are slated to report earnings this week, including retailers such as Kohl’s (KSS) , Nordstrom (JWN) , Foot Locker (FL) and Best Buy Co. (BBY) , all of which will effectively close out a better-than-expected second quarter earnings season.
Related: Analysts: What to know before Nvidia earnings are reported this week
LSEG data suggests collective S&P 500 profits are likely to have risen 12.7% from last year to $502.1 billion, a $5 billion improvement from early forecasts, with third quarter earnings forecast to rise 5.7% to $512.8 billion.
Bond markets are also likely to be in focus today as the Treasury kicks-off a week in which is aims to raise $183 billion from benchmark coupon auctions with a $69 billion sale of 2-year notes later in the session.
The paper was last marked little-changed from last night’s close at 3.945% while benchmark 10-year notes were pegged at 3.837% heading into the start of the New York session.
On Wall Street, futures tied to the S&P 500, which is up 1.7% for the month and 17.76% for the year, are priced for a modest 7 point opening bell gain while the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which closed at a record high of 41,240.52 points last night, is called 10 points higher.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq, which has risen just 0.72% for the month but is up 18.08% for the year, is priced for a 45 point advance.
Stock on the move include CAVA Group (CAVA) , after SEC filings showed CEO Brent Schulman and several of his executive colleagues sold shares in the restaurant group after its better-than-expected second quarter earnings last week.
Apple (AAPL) shares, meanwhile, slipped 0.15% to $226.83 each after the tech giant said finance chief Luca Maestri will step down for a smaller role within the group on January 1, making way for his deputy, Kevan Parekh.
In overseas markets, Europe’s Stoxx 600 edged 0.3% higher in Frankfurt following data showing the German economy, the region’s largest, shrank 0.1% over the three months ending in June.
Britain’s FTSE 100, meanwhile, rose 0.2% in London, with mining and resource stocks powering the benchmark’s early gains.
Overnight in Asia, the regional MSCI ex-Japan benchmark slipped 0.28% into the close of trading, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.47% in Tokyo as the yen drifted to 144.81 against the slumping U.S. dollar.
Related: Veteran fund manager sees world of pain coming for stocks
