Dow futures higher; earnings and Fed decision in focus

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Investing.com -- U.S. stock futures edged higher Monday, at the start of a week that includes a crucial Federal Reserve policy-setting meeting as well as a number of key earnings reports.

By 06:40 ET (10:40 GMT), the Dow Futures contract was up 70 points, or 0.2%, S&P 500 Futures traded 12 points, or 0.3%, higher and Nasdaq 100 Futures climbed 45 points, or 0.3%.

The benchmark indices on Wall Street closed in a mixed fashion Friday, with the blue chip Dow Jones Industrial Average closing just higher for its tenth straight positive close and longest streak of increases since 2017.

The broad-based S&P 500 also posted small gains, but the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite closed 0.2% lower, after poorly received results during the week from streaming giant Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) and EV manufacturer Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA).

Earnings season kicks into top gear

Helping the generally positive tone has been a largely beneficial earnings season to date, but the quarter kicks into top gear this week with around 40% of the DJIA and 30% of the S&P 500 set to give their financial updates.

This includes tech giants Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META), although the slate is relatively quiet on Monday, with the focus on the likes of home appliances manufacturer Whirlpool (NYSE:WHR), NXP Semiconductors (NASDAQ:NXPI) and pizza chain Domino’s (NYSE:DPZ).

Additionally, toymaker Mattel (NASDAQ:MAT) is set to receive a boost from the strong showing of the "Barbie" movie, which recorded the biggest domestic debut of 2023.

Fed meeting key in determining sentiment

Also of crucial importance this week, the Federal Reserve is widely expected to raise borrowing costs by another 25 basis points on Wednesday, which may be the final rate hike of its most aggressive monetary policy tightening cycle in decades.

This thesis has helped buoy stocks in recent weeks, and any indication coming out of the meeting that the policymakers have been discussing further hikes could weigh heavily on Wall Street.

The U.S. economic data slate centers around the latest S&P Global activity data for July, with the flash services sector PMI expected to fall to 54.0 from 54.4 in June and the flash manufacturing PMI seen rising to 46.4 in July from 46.3.

Crude market pushes higher

Oil prices rose Monday, continuing the recent gains ahead of this week’s rate-setting meetings from U.S. and European central banks.

By 06:40 ET, the U.S. crude futures traded 0.6% higher at $77.53 a barrel, while the Brent contract climbed 0.5% to $81.27.

The benchmarks rose 1.5% and 2.2% respectively last week, their fourth consecutive positive week, as the prospect of tighter supplies–additional production cuts by Saudi Arabia and Russia are set to start in August–resulted in prices climbing to their highest levels in nearly three months.

Additionally, gold futures traded flat at $1,966.60/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.3% lower at 1.1090.

(Oliver Gray contributed to this item.)