Big banks set to kick off U.S. earnings season
U.S. stock futures were higher on Tuesday morning, as market participants look ahead to second-quarter earnings season. J.P. Morgan Chase (NYSE:JPM), Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC), and Citigroup (NYSE:C) will announce their results before the opening bell.
Analysts expect J.P. Morgan Chase to post adjusted earnings of $1.11 per share on revenue of $30.57 billion, while Wells Fargo is projected to report adjusted loss of $0.01 per share on $18.5 billion revenue.
Citigroup is forecast to have earned adjusted earnings of $0.38 cents share on revenue of $19.16 billion.
Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) will also announce its quarterly results ahead of the open. The company is expected to post a loss of $4.12 per share on revenue of $1.40 billion.
At around 5:10 a.m. ET, the blue-chip Dow futures rose 114 points, or 0.44% to 26,082. Futures on the S&P 500 gained 12.63 points, or 0.4% to 3,160.88 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures jumped 45 points, or 0.42% to 10,645.
California rolls back its reopening plans
Meanwhile, California Governor Gavin Newsom has ordered indoor activities, such as restaurants, bars, museums, zoos and movie theaters, to shut again due to growing coronavirus outbreaks in the state.
“COVID-19 is not going away anytime soon, until there is a vaccine and or an effective therapy,” Newsom warned in a Monday afternoon press conference.
Hair salons, places of worship, and gyms will also close in particularly hard-hit counties of the Golden State, including Sacramento, Los Angeles, Napa, San Diego, Orange, Ventura, Riverside, and San Bernardino.
California has recorded more than 330,000 cases of the virus, and more than 7,000 deaths.
China sanctions Lockheed Martin over Taiwan arms sale
In other news, Reuters says that Chinese authorities plan to impose sanctions on weapons manufacturer Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) in response to U.S. approval of a deal to sell missile parts to Taiwan.
“China firmly opposes U.S. arms sales to Taiwan,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said. “China decides to take measures to protect national interests. We will impose sanctions on the main contractor of this arms sale Lockheed Martin.”
Lockheed Martin is the major contractor for a $620 million package, which was approved by Washington last week, to upgrade Taiwan’s Patriot surface-to-air missiles system. China considers the island its breakaway province.
The move comes as U.S.-China tensions grow on a number of fronts, from the new security law Beijing imposed on Hong Kong and the coronavirus pandemic to the territorial claims in the South China Sea and trade disputes.
Lockheed Martin stock was down 1.13% to $349.08 a share in Tuesday’s premarket trading session.
