Dow futures are little changed as traders weigh retail earnings, Walmart up 3%
U.S. stock index futures were little changed Tuesday as traders weighed the earnings reports from two key retailers. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down just 18 points, or 0.05%. S&P 500 futures slipped 0.12% along with Nasdaq 100 futures. Walmart reported earnings per share that beat analyst expectations, sending the stock up 3%. The company also stuck with its second-half outlook. Home Depot reported earlier in the morning, with earnings beating expectations and the home-improvement store maintaining its 2022 guidance. Target and Lowe’s will report quarterly results Wednesday. Elsewhere, shares of ZipRecruiter slipped more than 5% after the company lowered its revenue outlook. Wall Street is coming off a solid session, with the major averages all rising Monday after a sharp intraday turnaround. The move higher built on the market’s rally off a June low. Still, some see the recent gains as a bear market rally instead of the start of a new bull cycle. “I think people are not being sensitive enough to this economic slowdown and what it’s going to mean for corporate earnings and profit margins,” Peter Boockvar, chief investment officer at Bleakley Advisory Group, said on CNBC’s “Fast Money.” A fresh batch of economic Tuesday morning shows the housing market industry is still under pressure. Housing starts totaled 1.446 million in July, a slide of 9.6% from June, according to the Commerce Department. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for 1.52 million on the starts number, which would have been a drop of 2.5%. Asia-Pacific shares were mixed on Tuesday as strong rallies from Chinese real estate companies and Australian miners were offset by muted Japanese and Hong Kong markets. Mainland China closed in positive territory. The Shanghai Composite gained 0.05% to 3,277.89 and the Shenzhen Component was up about 0.08% at 12,470.11. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng finished the day 1.05% lower. Japan’s Nikkei 225 finished flat at 28,868.91 while the Topix index dipped 0.15% to 1,981.96. The Kospi closed higher by 0.22% to settle at 2,533.52. Oil prices reversed early losses and moved higher on Tuesday, despite bleak economic data from top crude buyer China renewed concerns of a global recession and the market monitored talks on a reviving deal that could allow more Iranian oil exports. Brent crude futures added 54 cents to trade at $95.64 per barrel. WTI crude futures gained 89 cents to trade at $90.30. The oil future benchmarks fell about 3% in their previous sessions. Spot gold fell 0.2% to $1,775.30 per ounce, after falling more than 1% on Monday. U.S. gold futures dropped 0.4% to $1,790.20. The dollar, also considered a safe store of value along with bullion, benefited from a disappointing set of economic data out of China and a surprise rate cut by the country’s central bank. A stronger dollar makes gold more expensive for overseas buyers.