Walmart to report; Capital One, Discover Financial tie-up - what's moving markets

investing.com:

Investing.com -- U.S. stock futures inch lower on Tuesday, pointing to a negative opening for markets as investors return to their desks following the Presidents' Day holiday. Corporate earnings are set to be in the spotlight, with results due out from big-box retailers Walmart (NYSE:WMT) and Home Depot (NYSE:HD). Elsewhere, Capital One and Discover Financial agree to a merger worth more than $35 billion that would create a U.S. credit card titan.

1. Futures lower

U.S. stock futures edged down on Tuesday, as investors prepared for a raft of key corporate earnings this week.

By 02:52 ET (07:52 GMT), the Dow futures contract had shed 87 points or 0.2%, S&P 500 futures had dipped by 10 points or 0.2%, and Nasdaq 100 futures had fallen by 34 points or 0.2%.

Stock markets in New York were closed on Monday for the Presidents' Day holiday. In the final session of last week, the main indices slipped, weighed down by a spike in Treasury yields following a hotter-than-anticipated producer price index that further pushed back bets for the timing of a potential interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve.

Fed officials also expressed caution on Friday, with San Francisco Mary Daly in particular flagging that there is still «more work to do» to bring inflation back down to the U.S. central bank's 2% target.

2. Walmart, Home Depot to report

Major retailer Walmart Inc is due to report its fourth-quarter earnings before the market opens on Tuesday.

The low-cost retailer is usually seen as a key gauge of strength in U.S. consumer spending, which in turn is closely tied to the outlook for inflation.

While consumer spending has eased steadily in recent months due to pressure from sticky inflation and high interest rates, Walmart has still