Earnings, Fed meeting set to dominate markets this week
Stock futures were lower early Monday, suggesting stocks will kick off the week with losses, as traders gear up for the busiest week for earnings so far this season.
As of 5:25 a.m. ET, futures tied to the blue-chip Dow were indicated 166 points, or 0.47% to 34,785. S&P 500 futures dropped 13.75 points, or 0.31% to 4,389.25 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures gave away 12.5 points, or 0.08% to 15,085.50.
It will be a deluge of earnings for stock traders this week. Of the 500 members of the S&P 500 index, 165 will publish their earnings this week. Ten of the 30 members of the Dow are also expected to report.
On top of earnings, traders will also be watching as the Federal Reserve kicks off its two-day monetary meeting on Tuesday.
While the central bank is not expected to announce any policy changes at the conclusion of the meeting, it could provide more details on the tapering debate it ramped up last month.
Tesla earnings in focus today
Shares of Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) rose slightly in premarket trading Monday as the company prepares to announce its second-quarter financial results after the closing bell.
Analysts expect the electric automaker to post earnings of 96 cents per share on revenue of $11.21 billion. At the time of writing, Tesla stock was marked $7.46, or 1.16% to $650.84 per share.
Other major companies scheduled to report today include Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT), Hasbro (NASDAQ: HAS), Lennox International (NYSE: LII), and Universal Health Services (NYSE: UHS).
Bitcoin price rallies amid speculation over Amazon crypto plans
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies were moving higher this morning on reports that Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) plans to accept the digital coin by the end of 2021.
The gains come after U.K.-based City A.M. published a report on Sunday that Amazon is looking to accept bitcoin payments by the end of the year and it is exploring its own token for 2022.
According to the report, which cites an Amazon insider, the online retail giant has been working on the plan since 2019.
The report added that the company is expected to accept Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, and Cardano before it accepts eight or so of the most used cryptocurrencies online.
At the time of writing, bitcoin was up 11.74% to $38,410.9 while Ethereum jumped 8.14% to 2,338.61. Bitcoin Cash gained 11.92% to 504.65 while Cardano rose 10.09% to 1.341857.
