Stocks - Wall Street to Slip After Long Weekend on Virus Fears

By Peter Nurse

Investing.com - U.S. stock markets are set to open lower Tuesday, as Wall Street players return to action after Monday’s holiday, needing to digest losses in Europe and Asia amid concerns over the new pneumonia-like virus in China.

At 7:05 AM ET (12:05 GMT), futures for the S&P 500 traded 9 points, or 0.3%, lower, futures for the NASDAQ 34 points, or 0.4%, lower, while Dow Jones 30 Futures fell 44 points, or 0.2%.

The outbreak of the disease is still in its early stages. But it brings back memories of the 2002 SARS epidemic, which affected more than 8,000 people across 37 countries, with around 800 deaths. A 2003 academic study estimated the global economic cost of that virus at close to $40 billion.

Elsewhere, President Donald Trump took center stage at Davos, in his second meeting of global political and business leaders at the World Economic Forum, to tout the success of the country's economy. His speech came just a few hours before his impeachment trial begins in the U.S. Senate.

Earnings season continues with Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) set to report its final quarter figures after the close. Analysts polled by Investing.com predict earnings per share of 52 cents on revenue of $5.45 billion. Investors will also be looking for developments with regard to subscribers, which may be increasingly vulnerable to churn as competitors such as Disney roll out their streaming services this year.

Also, IBM (NYSE:IBM) will release its latest quarterly results, again after the close, hoping to break a years-long trend of declining revenue.

Economic data are thin on the ground Tuesday, with the Redbook Index, a gauge of year-over-year same-store sales growth, the only release of note. This is due at 8:55 AM ET (1355 GMT).

AT 07:05 AM ET, U.S. crude futures traded 1.4% lower at $57.77 and the international benchmark Brent contract dropped 1.7% to $64.11. Gold futures for February delivery on New York’s COMEX dropped 0.2% to $1,556.85.

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