Wall St set to open lower ahead of manufacturing, jobs data
By Johann M Cherian and Bansari Mayur Kamdar
(Reuters) — Wall Street was set to open lower on Tuesday ahead of economic data that could clear the air on a soft landing for the U.S. economy, while investors assessed mixed earnings from pharmaceutical heavyweights Merck and Pfizer (NYSE:PFE).
Merck rose 1.5% in premarket trading as it raised its full-year profit forecast after posting a smaller-than-expected second-quarter loss, while Pfizer slipped as it missed estimates for quarterly revenue.
Uber (NYSE:UBER) climbed 2.3% after it forecast third-quarter operating profit above expectations, banking on a growing demand for ride hailing services.
Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) edged up 0.9% in choppy trading as the global economic bellwether reported a rise in second-quarter profit, though it warned of a sequential fall in current-quarter sales and margins.
U.S. second-quarter earnings are now expected to fall 6.4% from a year earlier, compared with a 7.9% decline estimated a week ago, as per Refinitiv data.
«So far things have played out well and we're looking forward to continued strengths and the outlook seems to be firming,» said Peter Andersen, founder of Andersen Capital Management.
All eyes will be on the ISM Manufacturing survey which is expected to show that July U.S. factory activity contracted less than the month before. Labor Department's Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey for June is also on tap.
The manufacturing and employment surveys are expected at 10 a.m. ET.
«It's a delicate balance, where we want to see some contraction, but not too much contraction, and then we also have to factor in the sense that rate increases have not fully played out,» Andersen added.
Investors will also parse commentary by Chicago
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