It’s Martin Luther King Day and with US stock exchanges closed international market action has been mixed with markets looking for leadership.
Stock market trading has generally been positive with US index futures (which close at 9:15 am EDT) and overseas markets trying to build on Friday’s US afternoon turnaround that saw the NASDAQ shrug off early losses to finish up 0.6% but the Dow struggle to do the same and finish down 0.6%. Today, the three main US index futures contracts are up about 0.15%. European indices had closed Friday before North America rebounded, so the Dax and FTSE are staging catch-up rallies, gaining 0.5% and 0.75% respectively.
Currency and commodity market action has been more indecisive. WTI crude oil and natural gas are both flat in morning trading, copper is down 0.3%. A 0.15% gain for gold coupled with a 1.0% decline for Bitcoin suggests the overall tone remains cautious.
The focus for investors this week shifts to earnings reports with reports on the way from US investment banks, regional banks, airlines, railroads and others. The initial reaction to Friday’s big bank results was disappointment and investors may look to these results for signs of how deep an impact the Omicron Wave has had on corporate earnings and indications from managements on how long this may last.
