US STOCKS-S&P 500, Dow futures muted after big bank earnings, chip slide weighs

Futures linked to the S&P 500 and the Dow were subdued on Tuesday as investors parsed quarterly results from big US banks that kick off the earnings season, while weakness in chip stocks weighed on Nasdaq futures. JPMorgan Chase posted ‌a rise in third-quarter profit on growth in investment banking and trading. Profit at Wells Fargo rose in the same quarter, helped by loan book growth and higher interest income.

Their shares, however, slipped 3.4% and 1%, respectively, in premarket trading. Johnson & Johnson dipped 2.7% despite reporting a third-quarter profit slightly above expectation.

Futures tied to the blue-chip Dow pared ‌earlier advances, but remained in positive territory on the back of gains in UnitedHealth. The health insurer climbed 2% after raising its 2026 profit forecast as it tightened ‌spending on medical costs and improved margins in some units.

Hopes of a strong earnings season have lately propped up the broader US equity market amid growing geopolitical concerns, surging government bond yields and inflation worries. Earnings for the S&P 500 for the July-September quarter are expected to grow 30.6%, with technology and energy companies expected to gain the most, according to data compiled by LSEG.

At 6:54 a.m. ET, Dow ⁠E-minis were ​up 92 points, or 0.18%, S&P 500 E-minis ⁠were down 10 points, or 0.13%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were down 182.25 points, or 0.59%. US chipmakers came under pressure again after a selloff on Monday, with analysts pointing to reports around technological advances ⁠made by China's CXMT.

"That's direct competition for Samsung and SK Hynix, whose enormous profits have been driven as much by supply constraints as insatiable demand," said Nic Puckrin, cross-asset analyst and founder ​of Coin Bureau. "This is why we're seeing such violent moves in the South Korean stock market, but US chipmakers also aren't immune." The KOSPI closed ⁠down 5.5% after falling over 7%.

Chip giant Nvidia shed 1% while AMD and Marvell Technology eased 1.5% and 2.6%, respectively. Memory chipmaker Micron Technology dipped 3.2% while data storage companies Western Digital, Seagate and Sandisk ⁠dropped ​between 3.2% and 4.8%.

Meanwhile, oil prices fell as traders assessed supply risks from attacks on Saudi Arabia while weighing the prospect of additional diesel supplies from Russia. Surging crude oil prices, due to the US-Iran conflict, have raised concerns of energy-related inflation worldwide, pushing bond yields to multi-decade highs and forcing central banks to adopt a ⁠tougher stance on monetary policy.

Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller, however, attributed the rise in yields to stronger economic growth and large-scale AI investment, rather than higher ⁠inflation expectations. Recent economic data showing a less-than-expected increase in ⁠inflation and weaker jobs growth have knocked off bets on imminent interest rate hikes from the Fed, with traders widely expecting it to hold rates this month, according to CME FedWatch.

Against this backdrop, the September reading of US consumer and producer prices ‌and retail sales figures ‌due later this week will be under greater scrutiny.