Wall Street was largely unchanged Tuesday ahead of the release of U.S. retail sales, factory data, and more quarterly financial reports from companies, according to an Associated Press report.
Futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average each fell less than 0.1% before the opening bell.
Strong spending by U.S. consumers has been one of the main reasons for the economy’s resilience, driven by a remarkably sturdy job market, and the Commerce Department will release June data on consumer spending early Tuesday.
This week also will bring a slew of corporate earnings reports that investors are looking to for signs of where profits for U.S. companies are heading.
Expectations are modest. Analysts are forecasting the worst drop for earnings per share among S&P 500 companies since the pandemic was pummeling the economy in the spring of 2020, according to FactSet. They’re also forecasting a third straight quarter of declines in profits.
The stock market’s big run has critics warning that it is not a certainty the economy will avoid a recession, that inflation will continue to coast lower, and that corporate profits will recover.
The wide expectation is for the Fed to raise rates at its meeting next week, which would take the federal funds rate to its highest level since 2001. But the hope among traders nevertheless is that will be the final hike of this cycle.
