Futures tied to the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq pointed to a lower open on Tuesday, while Dow futures ticked higher, as investors assessed a slew of corporate earnings and awaited economic data for more clarity on the impact of U.S. tariffs.
Supporting futures linked to the blue-chip Dow, Honeywell (NASDAQ:HON) jumped 3.5% in premarket trading after posting a rise in adjusted profit for the first quarter.
U.S.-listed shares of Spotify (NYSE:SPOT) Technologies dropped 5.1% after the Swedish music-streaming giant forecast current-quarter operating profit below Wall Street estimates.
Meanwhile, U.S. officials said President Donald Trump’s administration will move to reduce the impact of his automotive tariffs by alleviating some duties imposed on foreign parts in domestically manufactured cars, and keeping tariffs on cars made abroad from piling on top of other ones.
However, shares of automakers Ford and Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) edged only slightly higher, while General Motors (NYSE:GM) slipped 0.7% after the automaker pulled its annual forecast due to tariff uncertainty.
"Suppliers might gain some cost recovery, but ... relief today doesn’t fix the longer-term challenge: U.S. car prices are heading higher just as economic momentum fades," analysts at Bernstein said.
Investors are awaiting several data releases this week for more indications on how new tariffs are impacting the outlook for businesses and the economy. Consumer confidence and JOLTS job openings are scheduled for Tuesday, while U.S. first-quarter GDP and nonfarm payrolls are expected later in the week.
Results from four of the "Magnificent Seven" group of megacap stocks - Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) - will be among the most closely watched as they report through the week.
First-quarter earnings for S&P 500 companies are expected to rise 10.9% from a year ago, per LSEG data. That is higher than an early-April estimate for a 7.8% rise, but many companies have warned of the new tariffs impacting their outlook.
"We’re just in this eye of the storm, if you will, for a lot of investors, consumers, and business leaders wondering what the future looks like as potential tariffs kick in down the road," said Matthew Stucky, chief portfolio manager at Northwestern (NASDAQ:NWE) Mutual Wealth Management.
At 08:30 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 122 points, or 0.30%, S&P 500 E-minis were down 7 points, or 0.13%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were down 44 points, or 0.23%.
The S&P 500 eked out marginal gains in choppy trading on Monday, rising for a fifth straight session in its best winning streak since November as hopes for a de-escalation in trade tensions between the U.S. and China helped indexes claw back some losses from earlier this month.
Still, all three major indexes remain down for the year, and the S&P 500 is on track to fall about 1.5% this month.
Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) rose 0.7% after beating revenue and profit estimates. United Parcel Service (NYSE:UPS), a bellwether for the economy, gained 1.1% after beating first-quarter profit estimates and announcing it will cut 20,000 jobs.
NXP Semiconductors NV (NASDAQ:NXPI) fell 6.8% after the company only slightly beat expectations for revenue, and announced a CEO transition.