We’re eyeing a relatively muted start to the week’s trade on Wall Street after a quiet session across Asia. The region is heading into a series of holidays to mark the Lunar New Year, which has served to suppress activity although the prospect of economic and corporate releases from the US as the day unfolds ought to ensure some volatility is seen in the near term.
November’s Durable Goods figure will be under scrutiny as this is expected to show something of an uptick. Any failure to deliver here could ultimately benefit equities as it will once again validate the Federal Reserve’s need to take a patient approach to policy tightening.
Earnings news will likely be dominated by numbers after the close tonight from Google’s parent Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL). There are hopes that some of the company’s emerging businesses such as the self-driving car division Waymo may be able to offer up some excitement here and depending as to what degree the company splits out details, there’s the potential for read across into competitors’ performances too.
Ahead of the open we’re calling the Dow down 19 at 25045 and the S&P 500 down 2 at 2705