Futures Plummet to Begin Week



Stock futures traded lower on Monday morning amid a January rally as investors braced for the busiest week of earnings season and a possible interest rate hike from the Federal Reserve.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials descended 234 points, or 0.7%, early Monday to 33,814.

Futures for the S&P 500 slumped 39 points, or 1%, to 4,045.25.

Futures for the NASDAQ Composite dropped 160.5 points, or 1.3%, to 12,061.75.

Wall Street is coming off a winning week as the stock market’s January rally continued. The NASDAQ gained 4.3% for the week, while the S&P 500 grabbed 2.5% and Dow added 1.8%. The S&P 500 is up 6% for 2023 following a 19% loss last year and closed at a new year-to-date high on Friday.

There are several tests this week for this 2023 rally. About 20% of the S&P 500 will report earnings this week, including McDonald’s and General Motors on Tuesday followed by tech giants Apple, Meta Platforms, Amazon and Alphabet later in the week.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index edged up 0.2%, while in Hong Kong retreated 2.7%.

Oil prices took on a penny to $79.69 U.S. a barrel.

Gold prices skidded $6.90 to $1,938.70 U.S. an ounce.