US futures climb as earnings season kicks into high gear

US stocks climbed on Tuesday, on track for further gains as tech-focused investors prepared for a fresh wave of earnings highlighted by struggling Tesla (TSLA).

S&P 500 (^GSPC) futures rose 0.3% after staging a comeback from a six-day run of losses the previous session. Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) futures were up roughly 0.2%, while contracts on the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (^NDX) also stepped up 0.4%.

The gauges are looking to build on a positive start to the week that saw the S&P 500 top 5,000 for the first time since February. Stocks rebounded as investors jumped back into the likes of AI darling Nvidia (NVDA), which had lost ground amid worries about higher-for-longer interest rates.

Many in the market are looking to this week’s rush of Big Tech earnings to pull stocks out of the slump that has dogged them since the start of the year — though some on Wall Street hold out less hope.

Tesla’s earnings are likely to be a catalyst for the S&P 500, given the stock’s weight in the index. The results, due after the market close, are seen as pivotal for Elon Musk’s EV maker, whose shares have been hit hard by a disappointing delivery outlook, the cancellation of plans for a long-awaited sub-$30,000 model, and a strategy switch to robotaxis, among other headwinds.

As the first “Magnificent Seven” to report, Tesla sets the stage for highly anticipated results from Meta (META), Microsoft (MSFT), and Alphabet (GOOG) later in the week, though some suspect the megacaps’ momentum is fading.

Meanwhile, legacy automaker GM (GM) got the ball rolling on earnings on Tuesday, posting strong first quarter results and upping its full-year guidance. Its shares popped around 4%. Spotify (SPOT) stock jumped after the audio streamer swung to a profit amid an earnings beat.

Live2 updates

  • Quick take on GM’s earnings blowout

    GM’s (GM) stock is popping almost 5% after the company’s big earnings beat (which continues to occur because the company has been an aggressive repurchaser of its stock in recent quarters and analysts aren’t modeling it correctly) and full year guidance lift.

    After an initial pass through the earnings deck, it’s clear GM is just a different investing story than embattled Tesla (TSLA) right now. GM is cutting costs. GM is finding success with its new EVs. GM is buying back a ton of stock.

    Tesla is cutting prices and pondering robotaxis.

    Yep.

    I am chatting with GM’s CFO Paul Jacobson around 8am ET today, so will pop in here after with added insight! Yahoo Finance’s Pras Subramanian has everything you need to know about the earnings report here.

    In the meantime, below is an inside look into what GM and CEO Mary Barra are up to.

  • First take on PepsiCo earnings

    I am catching up with PepsiCo’s (PEP) chairman and CEO Ramon Laguarta this morning, but wanted to drop a few quick thoughts in here as I run down the earnings release that just hit the wires.

    While it’s great to see PepsiCo maintain its sales and profit outlook for 202, the stock may be bidding down in the pre-market on the quarterly volume declines at the Frito Lay North America and North America Beverage business. The company did note that volume trends improved sequentially, but the year on year declines suggest shoppers are still pushing back on price increases.

    The question now is whether PepsiCo will roll some of its price hikes back.