Feb 6 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures were subdued on Tuesday with big-ticket earnings on the radar, while investors looked ahead to commentary from Federal Reserve officials for further clues on the timing of the central bank's first interest-rate cut.
Eli Lilly (LLY.N), opens new tab jumped 4.2% in premarket trading after forecasting 2024 profit above estimates, driven by demand for its blockbuster weight-loss drug Zepbound and diabetes medicine Mounjaro.
GE HealthCare Technologies (GEHC.O), opens new tab gained 2.2% after the medtech firm posted better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings.
DuPont de Nemours (DD.N), opens new tab gained 2.5% after the chemicals firm beat fourth-quarter profit estimates, announced a new $1 billion share-repurchase program and hiked its dividend.
Investors are actively monitoring forecasts from businesses against the backdrop of high borrowing costs and persistent slowdown concerns.
With around half of the S&P 500 companies having reported earnings, 80.4% have surpassed expectations, according to LSEG data last week. Overall S&P 500 earnings are now expected to have risen 7.8% in the fourth quarter from the year-ago quarter.
Wall Street started the week on a glum note in the previous session on the heels of a blistering rally in the S&P 500 (.SPX), opens new tab, which notched 13 weekly gains out of 14. The benchmark index was aided by largely positive quarterly corporate earnings and optimism that an interest-rate cut by the Fed might just be around the corner.
However, policymakers, including Chair Jerome Powell, have actively talked down market expectations of a quick start to policy easing, a key theme in the central bank's interest-rate decision last week. Strong labor market and economic activity data have also fed into rate-cut speculations.
Remarks from the central bank's policymakers through the day, including voting member Cleveland's Loretta Mester, will be on investors' watch list.
With inflation cooling and the labor market returning to a "better balance" without unemployment rising significantly, Deutsche Bank said it no longer expects the U.S. economy to tip into a recession this year.
"Investors have been repricing everything since last week's Fed meeting and Friday's Non-Farm Payroll surprise. The unemployment rate remains very low, especially considering rates are at their highest level since 2001 and the economy is proving extremely robust," said David Morrison, senior market analyst at Trade Nation.
"The market is now pricing in rate cuts of between 100-125 bps this year, down from 150 last week."
Traders are betting with a nearly 65% chance that at least a 25-basis-point rate cut could be delivered in May, with the odds standing at around 94% for the first cut in June, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.
At 7:15 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 45 points, or 0.12%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 3.5 points, or 0.07%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 7.5 points, or 0.04%.
Palantir Technologies (PLTR.N), opens new tab jumped 16% after the data analytics firm forecast annual profit above estimates, reporting its "first profitable year" on strong demand for its AI offerings, while FMC Corp (FMC.N), opens new tab tumbled 13.6% after forecasting downbeat first-quarter profit.
U.S. shares of Chinese firms such as Li Auto , Bilibili and Tencent Music surged between 4% and 8%, tracking optimism in mainland China on a slew of signals that authorities are strengthening their resolve to support slumping markets.
Reporting by Johann M Cherian and Ankika Biswas in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai
