Skew of Top Profile Earnings Reports Can be a Game Changer for S&P 500

U.S. stock futures are slipping after two sessions of gains. Investors face another day of high-profile earnings reports from companies like Microsoft (MSFT), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), and Texas Instruments (TXN), as well as fresh economic data from the U.S. manufacturing and services sectors.

Companies releasing their latest quarterly reports today also include 3M (MMM), Capital One Financial, General Electric (GE), Halliburton (HAL), Lockheed Martin (LMT), Raytheon Technologies (RTX), Union Pacific, and Verizon Communications (VZ).

Yesterday, stocks ended sharply higher, boosted by technology stocks amid optimism the Federal Reserve may be preparing to slow its interest rate hikes, and ahead of key earnings reports. All three of the major stock indexes extended Friday’s gains. The Dow rose 0.8%, the S&P 500 gained 1.2%, and the Nasdaq added 2%. U.S. Treasury yields edged slightly higher before reversing course. The 10-year Treasury now yields 3.5%.

Commoditywise, crude oil prices are flat after hitting seven-week highs on expectations of a possible recovery in demand from top oil importer China. Light sweet crude is just below $82 per barrel.

Verizon Communications (VZ) just reported that its Q4 total operating revenue increased 3.5% YoY, to reach $35.3 billion. Wireless revenue rose 5.9% to $18.8 billion in comparison to the same quarter last year. For the corresponding timeframe, the company's net income soared 41.4% to land at $6.7 billion on the annual basis, going by $1.56 earnings per share compared with $1.11 per share in Q4 2021. Full year operating revenue for the fiscal 2022 landed at $136.8 billion, marking an increase of 2.4% in comparison to the year before.

Major equities in Europe turned to losses as traders assessed published data observing private sector activity in the Eurozone, Britain, and Germany. The reading for January on the manufacturing and services sector in the United Kingdom highlighted the risks of a recession in the British economy. The negative sentiment was also driven by expectations of more interest rate increases.

In numbers, the British FTSE 100 dropped 0.30%, while Euro Stoxx 600 slipped 0.26%, and the German DAX fell 0.36%. The French CAC 40 was nearly flat concurrently.