US Stock Futures Retreat As Investors Sift Through Earnings: Markets Wrap

Stocks slipped Tuesday while investors braced for news from companies on how tariffs are filtering through to their earnings.

Futures on the S&P 500 ticked lower after the gauge hit another record on Monday. Japanese shares fell along with the yen amid worries about fiscal spending after Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s coalition suffered a setback in the weekend elections. The Stoxx Europe 600 index slipped 0.4%.

A record-breaking stock rally has powered on in the face of growing uncertainty over trade negotiations ahead of the Aug. 1 tariff deadline. But with valuations stretched, the strong second-quarter earnings season is failing to illicit much of a reaction from investors so far, as they wait for more concrete information on the tariff fallout.

“Of course we see beats, but that won’t tell us a huge amount about where we are going forward,” J.P. Morgan Asset Management Global Market Strategist Hugh Gimber told Bloomberg TV.  “That’s where we are spending our energy on this earnings season, trying to gauge where the hit from tariffs will come through.”

Lockheed Martin Corp. and Coca-Cola Co. are due to report Tuesday, and Tesla Inc. and Alphabet Inc. on Wednesday. After hitting a series of all-time highs, the S&P 500 is trading around 22 times expected 12-month profits. The S&P 500 hasn’t posted a 1% up or down day since late June.

Treasuries and the dollar steadied before speeches from Federal Reserve officials, including Chair Jerome Powell. The Fed leader has faced relentless criticism from the Trump administration, mostly over decisions to hold interest rates steady so far in 2025. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent joined the fray On Monday, saying there should be a review of the central bank’s “non-monetary policy operations,” including renovations of its headquarters in Washington.

On the trade front, President Donald Trump may issue more unilateral tariff letters before the tariff deadline, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said. More trade deals may also be reached before the deadline, she added.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will be the latest foreign leader eager to make a deal beforedeadline when he visits Trump in the Oval Office later Tuesday. A team of US officials will visit India in the second half of August to hold talks on a bilateral trade deal, the Financial Express reported Tuesday.

Japanese markets had a volatile Tuesday as investors weighed policy uncertainty after the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s historic loss in Sunday’s elections. Stocks rallied in the morning, only to flip in the afternoon session.

The country’s government bonds are vulnerable to further selling following the elections, although the immediate reaction Tuesday was damped by a rally in global debt markets. The nation’s 20 and 40 year bonds fell slightly.

Elsewhere, Bank of England officials are mulling whether to set aside plans to create a digital pound for households amid growing skepticism over the project’s benefits, the latest sign of dwindling support for state-backed digital currencies globally.

In commodities, oil fell for a third session, and gold slipped. Iron ore headed toward the highest in nearly five months as traders eyed China’s prospective supply-side reforms for the steel industry and plans for a massive dam project.  

• AstraZeneca Plc plans to invest $50 billion in the US before 2030, becoming the latest European pharma company to ratchet up spending in the country ahead of potential tariffs on imported medicines.

• Compass Group Plc gained as much as 8.9% after the catering and support services company lifted its full-year guidance and announced the acquisition of Dutch caterer Vermaat.

• AkzoNobel maintained its profit forecast for the year while it warned of ongoing tariff uncertainty.

• Centrica Plc rose 4% as the energy firm agreed to buy a 15% equity stake in Sizewell C nuclear power plant in the UK.

• Sanofi plans to acquire biotechnology company Vicebio for a total upfront payment of $1.15 billion, according to a statement.

Some of the main moves in markets: 

Stocks

• S&P 500 futures fell 0.1% as of 5:39 a.m. New York time

• Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.3%

• Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were little changed

• The Stoxx Europe 600 fell 0.4%

• The MSCI World Index was little changed

Currencies

• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed

• The euro was little changed at $1.1696

• The British pound was little changed at $1.3490

• The Japanese yen fell 0.1% to 147.56 per dollar

Cryptocurrencies

• Bitcoin rose 1.3% to $118,459.75

• Ether fell 2.7% to $3,656.17

Bonds

• The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced one basis point to 4.39%

• Germany’s 10-year yield advanced one basis point to 2.62%

• Britain’s 10-year yield advanced two basis points to 4.63%

Commodities

• West Texas Intermediate crude fell 1.1% to $66.47 a barrel

• Spot gold fell 0.3% to $3,385.97 an ounce