By Mark DeCambre, MarketWatch

Banks in focus as second-quarter earnings unofficially get under way

U.S. stocks on Monday were poised to climb modestly, building on their record finishes from last week, as a wave of second-quarter earnings await.

How are the major benchmarks performing?

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 51 points, or 0.2%, at 27,360, those for S&P 500 climbed 4.85 points, or 0.2%, at 3,020.25, while Nasdaq 100 futures rose 11.75 points to reach 7,971.25, a gain of 0.1%.

On Friday, the Dow gained 244.02 points, or 0.90%, at 27,332.10, while the S&P 500 index added 13.83 points, or 0.5%, at 3,013.75. The Nasdaq Composite index closed 48.10 points higher at 8,244.14, a gain of 0.6%.

Read:The Dow components that drove the blue-chip stock index to 27,000 (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/here-are-the-dow-components-driving-the-blue-chip-stock-index-to-a-27000-milestone-2019-07-11)

(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/here-are-the-dow-components-driving-the-blue-chip-stock-index-to-a-27000-milestone-2019-07-11)Also see: All of the important Dow milestones in one chart (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/all-of-the-important-dow-milestones-in-one-chart-2019-07-12)

What's driving the market?

Citigroup Inc. (C)is slated to kick off its second-quarter earnings season later Monday, representing the unofficial start of quarterly results on Wall Street. Investors will be keenly watching results for signs of the impact of Sino-American tariff wars, a regime of ultralow interest rates and a domestic slowdown buffeting global economies, washing up in some areas of the U.S.

"Citigroup will be in focus today as the bank will release its second-quarter figures. Traders will be keeping an eye on the banks net lending margin rate, and the profitability of its lending division," wrote David Madden, market analyst at CMC Markets UK.

In Asia, Chinese stocks edged higher on a mixed bag of data that showed that the world's second-largest economy expanded at the slowest pace in 27 years, raising expectations that Beijing would introduce stimulus measures to support the economy. Meanwhile, measures of industrial production came in better than expected.

China gross domestic product, or GDP, in the second quarter slowed to 6.2%, marking its slowest pace since 1992 -- though mostly matching expectations -- from a reading of 6.4% in the first quarter. Industrial production in the country accelerated to 6.3% from 5.0%, ahead of the 5.2% consensus.

Markets have been mostly rising on the promise of easy-money policies from the likes of the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank, with some investors speculating that anticipation a further round of monetary-policy stimulus from Beijing's central bank has also helped to soften the impact of a relatively weak GDP print.

See:Banks should shine among S&P 500 stocks this earnings seaso (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/banks-should-shine-among-sp-500-stocks-this-earnings-season-2019-07-09)n (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/banks-should-shine-among-sp-500-stocks-this-earnings-season-2019-07-09)

Check out: This stock-market canary has keeled over (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/this-stock-market-canary-has-keeled-over-2019-07-12)

Read: With trade tensions escalating, here are 5 things to know about this earnings season (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/5-things-to-know-about-this-earnings-season-2019-07-12)

Which stocks are in focus?

Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD) said would invest $5.1 billion (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/gilead-paying-51-billion-to-increase-its-stake-in-belgian-biotech-galapagos-2019-07-14) to raise its stake in Belgian biotechnology company Galapagos N.V. ADR (GLPG.AE).

Shares of Anheuser-Busch InBev SAwere in focus (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/anheuser-busch-inbev-calls-off-asia-unit-ipo-2019-07-12)after the seller of Budweiser (ABI.BT) called off what would have been the largest initial public offering of the year, saying it wouldn't proceed with the nearly $10 billion listing of its Asian business.

How are other markets trading?

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note was 2.12%.

In Asia, stocks finished higher, with the China CSI 300 adding 0.4%, Japan's Nikkei 225 rising 0.2% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index advancing 0.2%. European shares were marginally higher, with the Stoxx Europe 600 edging 0.1% higher.

In commodities markets, crude-oil prices were climbing modestly, up 0.3% at $60.40 a barrel, along with gold prices , rising 0.4% at $1,417.80 an ounce.

The U.S. dollar was trading flat at 96.809 in early Monday dealings, as measured by the ICE U.S. Dollar Index.

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 15, 2019 07:29 ET (11:29 GMT)

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