U.S. stocks set to start new month with gains
U.S. stock futures nudged higher ahead of Monday’s open, after all three major indices ended Friday’s session on a negative note.
As of 5:40 a.m. ET, futures tied to the blue-chip Dow ticked up 120.5 points, or 0.36% to 33,887.5. S&P 500 futures crept 10.38 points, or 0.25% to 4,184.88 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures were little changed.
There will be some economic news later this morning, with the U.S. Commerce Department scheduled to deliver March construction spending numbers and the ISM Manufacturing Index for April also due today.
More important news comes later in the week, in a series of employment reports culminating in April non-farm payrolls report on Friday.
Lowe’s, ZoomInfo, Estee Lauder earnings on tap
Lowe’s (NYSE: L), Estee Lauder (NYSE: EL), ZoomInfo (NASDAQ: ZI) and ON Semiconductor (NASDAQ: ON) are among companies scheduled to report earnings later today.
Other major earnings to keep an eye on this week include Uber (NYSE: UBER), Lyft (NASDAQ: LYFT), Pfizer (NYSE: PFE), Under Armour (NYSE: UAA), Beyond Meat (NASDAQ: BYND), AMC Entertainment (NYSE: AMC), and Square (NYSE: SQ).
Epic Games and Apple’s blockbuster lawsuit kicks off today
Meanwhile, Fortnite creator Epic Games and Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) will face off in a Oakland, Calif. courtroom on Monday, and Apple will be forced to answer Epic’s accusations that the App Store and its in-app purchase policies violate antitrust law.
Epic CEO Tim Sweeney and Apple CEO Tim Cook are both set to testify during the trial. The legal battle comes after Epic in August 2020 enabled Fortnite players on iPhones to make cheaper in-game purchases if they paid directly rather than via Apple’s App Store, which currently takes a 30% commission.
Apple responded by removing Fortnite from the store. Epic immediately filed an antitrust lawsuit in California and launched a campaign calling on Apple to #FreeFortnite.
If Epic wins the case, Apple could be forced to give up control of app distribution, enabling customers to freely install software on iPhones.
