Stock futures are flat after Dow reverses course to start busy earnings week

Stock futures were flat after the Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped more than 200 points during Monday’s session, reversing an earlier rally as earnings season continued in earnest.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose by 6 points, or 0.02%. S&P 500 futures ticked up 0.07% and Nasdaq 100 futures dipped 0.01%. Shares of IBM fell more than 4% after hours when the original tech company lowered its forecast for cash flow, even while reporting earnings that beat Wall Street’s earnings and revenue estimates.

Earlier, the Dow shed more than 200 points to end the day in the red, reversing a morning rally fueled by solid earnings reports from Goldman Sachs and Bank of America. Oil broke above $100 a barrel, and bitcoin surged to the highest levels seen since mid-June.

Late in the trading session, stocks were dragged down on a Bloomberg report that Apple would slow hiring and spending on growth next year to prepare for a potential economic downturn. Shares of the iPhone maker ended the day about 2.1% lower.

Monthly homebuilder sentiment plunged 12 points to 55, the lowest since the start of the pandemic, according to a report Monday from the National Association of Home Builders. Confidence is coming under pressure in a host of economic sectors as the Federal Reserve continues its campaign to raise interest rates to tame high inflation. The Fed’s next policy meeting wraps up on Wednesday, July 27.

Still, whether the U.S. will experience a recession, and its potential duration and depth, are up for debate.

“When we think about earnings and we think about where stocks are now, we think there’s upside simply because there may be overpricing of this recession that some people think is imminent or already upon us,” said Julian Emanuel, senior managing director at Evercore ISI, during Monday’s Fast Money on CNBC.

The flood of second quarter earnings results continues this week. Johnson & Johnson and Hasbro will report quarterly results before the bell Tuesday, with Netflix reporting after the market close. Later in the week, Tesla, United Airlines, American Airlines, Snap, Twitter and Verizon are among those scheduled to report.