Quarterly updates from Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) and NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) yesterday served a fresh blow to sentiment, with equities selling off as a result. The decline was admittedly measured, but the risk is that it’s starting to set the tone for a busy few days of earnings announcements especially amongst industrial heavyweights with the likes of 3M (NYSE:MMM) and Xerox (NYSE:XRX) amongst today’s highlights.
Hopes are also running high that some progress can be seen in the US-China trade talks his week – that profit warning from Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) laid bare the fact that the impasse is proving damaging on both sides of the Pacific but again the latest update from Treasury Secretary Mnuchin showed there were still some considerable gaps to bridge.
The US consumer confidence reading for January is set for release shortly after the opening bell so again this could offer some fresh insight. The market is expecting to see a meaningful decline here, but anything more dramatic could again give traders reason to reach for the sell button.
Ahead of the open we’re calling the Dow down 34 at 24494 and the S&P 500 down 3 at 2641.