U.S. corporate earnings ahead, Chinese GDP underwhelms - what's moving markets

investing.com:

Investing.com — Investors prepare for a raft of fresh corporate earnings this week that will include some of the largest U.S. banks and major tech industry players. Elsewhere, Chinese quarterly growth figures provide further evidence of the country's sputtering recovery from the pandemic. Plus, Microsoft signs a licensing agreement with PlayStation over the «Call of Duty» gaming franchise that could bring the tech giant's mega-merger with Activision Blizzard one step closer to completion.

1. U.S. stock futures mixed

U.S. stock futures were mixed on Monday as investors looked ahead to a busy week of corporate results and digested underwhelming economic growth data out of China.

By 05:06 ET (09:06 GMT), the Dow futures contract had lost 50 points or 0.14%, S&P futures slipped slightly by 2 points or 0.03%, and Nasdaq 100 futures edged up by 18 points or 0.11%.

All three of these indices ended Friday with weekly gains of over 2%, driven in part by softer-than-expected inflation data for June that boosted hopes that the Federal Reserve may soon begin to step away from its recent policy tightening campaign. Traders also had a chance to parse through earnings from several major banks, including the biggest U.S. lender JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM).

Meanwhile, sentiment heading into U.S. dealmaking was dented by data out of China that showed that growth in the world's second-largest economy had slowed substantially in the second quarter (see below).

2. Second-quarter earnings season kicks into gear

The earnings calendar on Monday will be relatively light compared to the parade of companies due to deliver their latest results this week.

Big financial industry players Bank of America (NYSE:BAC), Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) and Goldman