Futures Rise Ahead of Another Busy Earnings Week
Futures Rise Ahead of Another Busy Earnings Week
- Stocks are set to open Monday morning moderately up,as U.S. equities futures rose Sunday evening. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures have gained 52 points, or 0.2%, while S&P 500 futures are up 0.3%. Nasdaq Composite Futures also rose 0.3%. Investors have a week filled with earnings coming up, as KKR, Loews, Simon Property Group, and Take-Two Interactive Software report quarterly results Monday, followed by Cisco Systems, DuPont, and Twitter on Tuesday. Coca-Cola, General Motors, and Uber Technologies report Wednesday. AstraZeneca, Expedia Group, Kraft Heinz, PepsiCo, and Walt Disney all report on Thursday.
- Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Sunday that the U.S. could return to full employment next year if Congress passes President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus package.“I would expect that if this package is passed that we would get back to full employment next year,” Yellen said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” Yellen contrasted that optimistic assessment with an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office that without any relief package, it would take until 2025 for unemployment to go below 4%. Full employment has long been shorthand for 4% unemployment, but Yellen has for years pushed for broader measures of the labor market, such as the long-term unemployment rate and the number of people who can only find part-time work even though they want a full-time job, into consideration when defining the term.
- Democrats will release legislation creating a $3,000 per child benefit onon Monday as part of President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus package, the Washington Post reports. The bill would provide families with $3,600 per child under six years old and $3,000 per child between six and 17, with the amount beginning to decline for families earning $150,000 a year and individuals earnings $75,000 a year.
The Internal Revenue Service would begin paying out the benefit in monthly checks starting in July if the proposal becomes law. Senior House Democrats plan to include the policy in the stimulus bill they plan to pass in the coming weeks, although it is unclear if it can be included in the Senate version given the upper chamber’s budget reconciliation rules. Days ago, Sen. Mitt Romney (R., Utah) released a proposal for an even larger stand-alone direct cash payment to families. Sen. Romney’s policy would deliver $4,200 per child under age 6 and $3,000 a year for those between 6 and 17.
- AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine doesn’t appear to protect against mild and moderate infections from the more easily transmissible form of the virus first identified in South Africa, according to a small clinical trial conducted in that country. The trial, which has not been peer-reviewed, only included about 2,000 participants with a median age was 31, making it too small and the subjects overall too young to draw broad conclusions about how the vaccine performs in preventing infections in the population at large, The Wall Street Journal reported.An AstraZeneca spokesperson told the Journal that the company believes “our vaccine could protect against severe disease.”
Events this Week
Monday, Feb. 8:
- German Industrial Production (December)
- British Retail Association (BRC) Retail Sales Monitor (January)
Tuesday, Feb. 9:
- German Trade Balance (December)
- U.S. Energy Information Agency Short-Term Energy Outlook (February)
- Mexican Consumer Price Index (CPI) (January)
- Brazilian CPI (January)
- U.S. Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) Job Openings (December)
- Chinese CPI (January)
- Chinese Producer Price Index (PPI) (January)
Wednesday, Feb. 10:
- Uber and MGM Resorts International Report Earnings
- U.K. Non-EU Trade Balance (December)
- German CPI (January)
- Brazilian Retail Sales (December)
- U.S. Regular and Core CPI (January)
- U.K. Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) House Price Balance (January)
Thursday, Feb. 11:
- The Walt Disney Co. Reports Earnings
- Markets Closed in China, Japan, and South Korea for Spring Festival, National Day, and New Year’s Day, respectively
- Federal Reserve Semi-Annual Monetary Policy Report Released
Friday, Feb. 12:
- Markets Closed in China, Hong Kong, South Korea, and Singapore for Spring Festival and New Year’s celebrations
- U.K. Industrial Production (December)
- U.K. Manufacturing Production (December)
- U.K. Trade Balance (December)
- U.K. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (Q4)
- EU Industrial Production (December)
- Indian CPI (January)
- U.S. Preliminary Michigan Consumer Sentiment and Expectations (February)
