U.S. stock index futures showed little movement Monday night after a mixed regular session on Wall Street, with market participants preparing for a pivotal week of quarterly tech earnings and the Federal Reserve's policy announcement.
S&P 500 Futures were down 0.1% at 7,442.25 points late in the evening, Nasdaq 100 Futures slipped 0.3% to 28,116.50 points by 20:30 ET (00:30 GMT), and Dow Jones Futures traded 0.1% lower at 25,347.0 points.
The regular trading session featured a cautious tone. Investors digested an easing of tensions in the Middle East and fresh doubts about how sustainable the AI-fueled rally might be amid elevated sector spending. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished the day up 0.5%, while the S&P 500 ended largely unchanged. The NASDAQ Composite edged down 0.2%, pressured by a selloff in chipmakers after reports that Chinese memory chipmaker CXMT had made rapid advances, stoking competition concerns in the AI semiconductor space.
Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) fell about 5%, contributing to a 2.2% drop in the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index.
Investor attention is concentrated on upcoming quarterly reports from several large technology companies scheduled later this week. Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META), Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) are expected to provide updates that could shed light on AI-related spending trends and whether heavy investments in AI infrastructure are beginning to translate into revenue and earnings growth. Last week's results from Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) raised investor concern after both companies highlighted elevated AI-related expenditures.
The Federal Reserve begins a two-day policy meeting on Tuesday, with its interest rate decision due on Wednesday. Markets will be closely watching comments from Chair Kevin Warsh for guidance on the monetary policy outlook, particularly as recent volatility in energy prices has complicated the inflation outlook.
Energy markets moved noticeably as oil prices fell sharply on Monday and extended losses in Asian trading on Tuesday. The decline followed a weekend pause in hostilities between the U.S. and Iran, which eased near-term fears of supply disruption and provided some relief to inflation expectations. President Donald Trump commented that the U.S. was engaged in "good talks" with Iran and that there was a possibility of reaching an agreement to end months of conflict, while warning that U.S. military strikes would resume if diplomacy failed.
"I think there's a good chance that something could happen, and if it does, good, if it doesn't, we go back to doing what we were doing two days ago," Trump said.
On the corporate front, Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) announced a proposed $5.5 billion settlement intended to resolve the majority of its remaining ovarian talc litigation. This development will be monitored by investors focused on legal exposure and balance sheet effects for the company.
As the week progresses, markets will weigh earnings from megacap technology firms and the Fed's policy direction against geopolitical developments and commodity price movements, with particular sensitivity to any indications that AI investment is pressuring profit margins across the tech sector.