US stock index futures inch down as investors wait for more earnings

US stock index futures edged lower on Monday after last week's strong gains, as investors stayed on the sidelines ahead of quarterly results from industry heavyweights through the week, reports Reuters.
Second-quarter earnings are gathering momentum, with Tesla due to report on Wednesday, while Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Netflix are also lined up through the rest of the week.
Of the 30 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings as of Friday, 80 per cent beat analyst expectations, according to Refinitiv data.
At 7:00 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 86 points, or 0.25 per cent, S&P 500 e-minis were down 7 points, or 0.15 per cent, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 5 points, or 0.03 per cent.
The three major US indexes ended last week over 2 per cent higher after consumer prices and producer prices data provided evidence that the economy had entered a disinflation phase, stoking hopes that the Federal Reserve will soon end its monetary policy tightening.
On Friday, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Citigroup (C.N) showed big US banks got a profit boost from higher rates and painted a picture of a resilient economy, with sparks of hope in some businesses like deal-making that have been in the dumps of late.
The strong opening rally in lenders, however, quickly fizzled out with most financials ending the session lower as investors feared things were as good as they would get for a while.
"While US stocks have done extremely well in the first half of 2023, companies are going to have to pull a rabbit out of the hat if they are to sustain this momentum," said Danni Hewson, head of financial analysis at AJ Bell.
In trading before the bell, Tesla gained 1.6 per cent after the company said on Sunday it had built its first Cybertruck, after two years of delays.
Activision Blizzard rose 4.0 per cent after Microsoft said it has signed an agreement to keep "Call of Duty" on PlayStation following its acquisition.
Also helping the stock, a US appeals court on Friday rejected the Federal Trade Commission's request to pause Microsoft's $69 billion purchase.
Meta Platforms slid 1.0 per cent after Norway's data protection authority said the social media firm will be fined $100,000 per day over privacy breaches unless it takes remedial action.
Lackluster Chinese economic data weighed on investors' minds on Monday as the world's second largest economy grew at a frail pace in the second quarter.
During the week, investors also await retail sales and new homes figures for June.