Stocks stumbled out of the gate Monday, after last week's worst weekly decline for major averages this year, ahead of earnings results from Alcoa after the close.
(Read More: Pisani: Market, Make Up Your Mind!)
The Dow Jones Industrial Average tilted lower, dragged by Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer.
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq slipped. The Nasdaq declined to touch its one-month low. The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), widely considered the best gauge of fear in the market, traded above 14.
Among key S&P sectors, telecoms dragged, while energy poked higher.
Aluminum producer and Dow component Alcoa is slated to post results after the closing bell, marking the unofficial start to first-quarter earnings season. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect the company to post earnings of 8 cents a share on revenue of $5.88 billion.
Banking giants JPMorgan and Wells Fargo are scheduled to post earnings on Friday.
The earnings outlook for the current quarter is fairly weak, with growth expected to increase by just 1.6 percent, compared to 6.2 percent last quarter, according to Thomson Reuters. The quarter also has seen an unusually high number of negative warnings, with 107 negative revisions for companies in the S&P 500. Compared to positive revisions, it is the worst pace in 12 years, the news agency added.
(Read More: Now It's Earnings That Could Stall the Stock-Market Rally)
"Sometimes, earnings are a secondary trigger for markets ? it's been more news-based as we've seen recent market rallies have to do with economic indicators," said Christine Short, senior manager at S&P Capital IQ.
While S&P Capital IQ expects first-quarter 2013 earnings growth of 0.7 percent, Short noted that the final number usually ends up about 4 percent higher than initial estimates.
"So we could see this could be an earnings season of about 5 percent growth, which would be respectable," she said. "And if we do end up 4 percent higher, it should help give the markets a boost."
In corporate news, General Electricagreed to buy oilfield services giant Lufkin Industries for $3.38 billion in cash, or $88.50 a share. Lufkin surged nearly 40 percent following the news.
And Macy's and rival J.C. Penney are due back in court in their battle over Martha Stewart home goods after a month-long mediation effort appeared to have failed.
On Monday, Cleveland Fed President Sandra Pianalto will be speaking, while Bernanke will be speaking on Monday evening on the topic of maintaining financial stability at a conference organized by the Atlanta Fed.
"The $3 trillion question for investors in the coming two to three years is what will happen to the Fed's balance sheet, and what the impact of any quantitative tightening (QT) will be on the economy and financial markets ? policymakers can probably continue to call the shots on the pace of QT as opposed to having it forced on them by markets (fingers crossed with respect to inflation, though). But don't expect the Fed's balance sheet to come down quickly anytime soon," Stuart Parkinson, strategist from Deutsche Bank. said in a note on Monday.
Traders will also be looking out for more clues over the future of quantitative easing in the coming week when the Federal Reserve releases minutes from its last meeting on Wednesday. There are also more than a half dozen appearances by Fed officials in the coming week, including Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke.
In Europe, shares were higher, shrugging off negative news flow and Friday's weak employment numbers in the U.S. In Asia, too, markets in Shanghai and Hong Kong pared steep losses caused by worries over the Korean peninsula and fears of a new strain of avian flu in China.
Meanwhile, U.S.Treasury Secretary Jack Lew is starting a two-day trip to Europe for economic discussions with the region's officials and leaders. Lew is scheduled to meet with members of the European Commission in Brussels on Monday and will also travel to Frankfurt where he will meet with European Central Bank President Mario Draghi.
?By CNBC's JeeYeon Park (Follow JeeYeon on Twitter: @JeeYeonParkCNBC)
? 2013 CNBC LLC. All Rights Reserved
planned parenthood kobayashi margaret sanger paul george eddie long ufc 143 weigh ins micron ceo
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.