FX.co ★ Futures Pointing To Slightly Subdued Start On Wall Street

U.S. stocks are expected to begin trading slightly lower on Tuesday, with futures indicating a marginal weakness in all three major markets — the Dow, S&P, and Nasdaq. The day is packed with anticipation on two fronts. Firstly, several significant companies will unveil their quarterly earnings reports; among them are Coca-Cola, McDonald's Corporation, Eli Lilly and Co., Amazon, Starbucks, AMD and PayPal. Secondly, the investors' focus will be on the Federal Reserve's monetary policy meeting which begins today. Although the Fed is expected to keep the interest rate unchanged this time, some anticipate a possible announcement of a rate cut in September.

Coca-Cola reported a Q1 earning of $3.18 billion, a slight increase from last year's $3.11 billion during the same period. McDonald's reported a Q1 earning of $1.93 billion, up from $1.80 billion from last year's first quarter. Eli Lilly and Co. showed a healthy rise in Q1 profits with $2.24 billion, up from $1.34 billion in the same quarter last year. The company also forecasted higher earnings for fiscal 2024.

Monday saw Wall Street close modestly higher due to upbeat earnings updates from tech firms. Tesla shares jumped by more than 15% as local Chinese authorities lifted restrictions on its cars.

In international markets, Asian stocks ended higher today, with Chinese markets slightly down after the release of mixed PMI data. European stocks traded cautiously ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve's meeting. However, the Eurozone economy expanded in the first quarter of this year, after two consecutive declines in the last half of 2023, showcasing a better-than-expected growth of 0.3%.

Meanwhile, West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures rose by 0.5%, while gold futures dropped by 1.4%. In the currency market, the dollar was steady against the Euro and rose against the Japanese yen.