Before the bell: What you need to know before the US market open
Markets are braced for a raft of tech stock earnings today and later this week and the Japanese yen is surging.
Here's what you need to know before the US market open at 2:30pm London time.
The pre-market is painting a mixed picture with the S&P down by 0.03 per cent, the Nasdaq is up by 0.16 per cent, and the Dow up by 0.1 per cent. The US 10-year yield is lower by two basis points at 1.55 per cent.
Asia finished the day with mixed results while Europe is largely up just past the mid-way point in the session.
The yen is at a two week high and currently up 1.3 per cent against the dollar as traders prepare themselves for the countries central bank policy meeting on Friday. The US Federal reserve will also announce its latest interest decision tomorrow and is strongly expected to leave rates on hold.
Read more: Japan has axed its GDP forecast for 2016
Before all that however traders will be focused on Apple's latest results. There are growing concerns that the iPhone's popularity may have peaked and investors will be on the look out for the phone's performance in Asia especially.
Meanwhile, Twitter boss Jack Dorsey will be looking to reassure the market a year after his return to the company he co-founded. User growth is the metric investors are hoping will pop.
Stocks to watch
Oil stocks are again in focus after Morgan Stanley issued a note saying it reckons oil is headed lower due to "worrisome trends" for supply, demand, refined products, the macro and positioning that "may all coalesce in late summer".
Texas Instruments have popped in the pre-market after the company reported better-than-expected results last night.
At the other end however Gilead Sciences is down about four per cent after its earnings release yesterday.
Fast food giant McDonald's is down over three per cent after it missed sales expectations this morning.
Companies reporting today
Earnings, earnings, earnings. So many of them.
Ahead of the open we'll hear from 3M, Caterpillar, McDonald's, Starwood Hotels, Under Armour, United Technologies, and Verizon (which reported a sharp revenue drop).
Read more: Veri-hoo? The $4.83bn Verizon Yahoo deal is go
After the close tech stocks dominate, with Apple and Twitter taking centre stage. We'll also get numbers from Buffalo Wild Wings, Panera Bread, and United States Steel.
In economic news
The S&P Case-Shiller Index – a 20 city composite home price index that seeks to measures the value of residential real estate – will be released at 3pm London time.
The Markit US Services PMI is out at 3:45pm while the latest consumer confidence and new home sales will be released at 4pm.