Stock futures were mixed early Tuesday, with traders digesting a slew of corporate earnings reports from major banks along with a steep overnight decline in South Korea that put pressure on memory names.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials gained 278 points, or 0.5%, early Tuesday to 52,388.
Futures for the S&P 500 skidded 5.75 points, or 0.7%, to 7,852.25.
Futures for the NASDAQ Composite faltered 218 points, or 0.7%. to 30,680.25.
JPMorgan Chase reported third-quarter earnings and revenue that missed analyst expectations. The stock initially fell on the weaker-than-expected results, but it recovered to trade 1% higher.
Wells Fargo shed 0.5% on mixed Q3 numbers. Citigroup and Goldman Sachs are due later on Tuesday.
UnitedHealth, meanwhile, rose 1% after the insurance giant’s results exceeded analyst expectations.
Memory stocks were under pressure after South Korea’s Kospi benchmark dropped 5.5% — reaching its lowest level since July 31 — on valuation concerns in the space along with growing competition out of China.
This week, China’s CXMT said it plans to release a new, more powerful chip by year-end.
SK Hynix and Western Digital dropped around 5% each, while Micron, Seagate Technology and Sandisk all fell more than 3%.
Big banks JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Wells Fargo are slated to release their results before the open on Tuesday.
The early reports could set the tone for an earnings season with lofty expectations. Analysts on average expect S&P 500 profits grew by nearly 30% from the year-earlier period
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 collapsed 1.8% Tuesday, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng gained 0.3%.
Oil prices bowed $1.70 to $92.04 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices hiked $17.80 to $4,208.40 U.S an ounce.
