US benchmark equity indexes were tracking in the red before the opening bell Monday as traders await key inflation data and the latest financial results from major banks later in the week. The Standard & Poor's 500 index showed a decline of 0.8%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was off by 0.3%, and the Nasdaq decreased by 1.2% in premarket activity.
This trend follows similar movements in Asian and European exchanges, which were also pointing lower. With no economic reports on the schedule for Monday, investor focus is trained on upcoming data releases. The producer price index for December is set to be released on Tuesday, and this will be followed by the consumer price index for the same month on Wednesday.
Moreover, last month's retail sales report will be available on Thursday, adding to the data investors are keenly anticipating. In addition to economic indicators, several banking giants and major corporations are preparing to disclose their latest financial results later this week. Notable names in this mix include JPMorgan Chase, UnitedHealth, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, BlackRock, Citigroup, Truist Financial, and Schlumberger.
Furthermore, KB Home is expected to post earnings after the markets close on Monday. In pre-market trading, shares of Tesla were down 2.8% while Nvidia dropped 3.2%. Apple showed a decline of 1%, and Amazon.com moved down by 1.2%. In the commodities market, bitcoin fell 3.7% to $91,162, while West Texas Intermediate crude oil gained nearly 2% to $78.07 a barrel.
In the bond market, yields on 10-year Treasuries increased by 0.8 basis points to 4.78%, while gold retreated 0.4% to $2,704 an ounce. Overall, the financial markets are in a wait-and-see mode as participants prepare for critical economic indicators and corporate earnings reports that could influence market sentiment in the days ahead..