US indices to open mostly lower with Nasdaq the outlier

The third-quarter earnings season has kicked off in the US but investors seem more concerned with the status of a coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine trial. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is expected to give back 99 points of yesterday’s gains and open at around 28,740 while the S&P 500 is see kicking off four points lower at 3,530. The tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite, however, looks set to blaze its own trail (again) with a 310 point gain. According to Jasper Lawler at LCG, today’s launch of the first 5G iPhone as well as Amazon Prime Day “has got the juices flowing for tech investors”. A pause in the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine has taken the wind out of the sails of the bulls’ boats. “Though a pause in a trial – this time due to ‘an unexplained illness in a study participant’ – isn’t exactly out of the ordinary, it still dealt a blow to the market’s faint, naïve hopes of a vaccine arriving this side of Christmas,” said Connor Campbell at Spreadex. Johnson & Johnson is one of the companies releasing an earnings update today. The shares were off in pre-market trading despite the healthcare titan topping expectations with third-quarter adjusted earnings per share of US$2.20, versus expectations of US$1.98. Investment bank JP Morgan Chase was another to beat the consensus forecast, with earnings per share of US$2.68 – 45 cents above the median forecast of analysts who follow the stock. The shares were little changed in pre-market trading. Five things to watch for on Tuesday: As mentioned, tech giant Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) will be holding a large amount of investor attention ahead of its iPhone launch event later today which is expected to see an appearance from its much touted 5G version of the iconic smartphone Meanwhile, JP Morgan will also be in focus after the banking giant kicked off the US third quarter earnings season by beating estimates thanks to a jump in investment banking fees Fellow big bank Citigroup will also be in focus as its own quarterly results are expected today ahead of a plethora of other financial giants later this week Share price reaction will be eyed from Johnson & Johnson after it was forced to pause a trial of its coronavirus vaccine candidate after one of its patients suffered an as yet unexplained illness On the macro data front, US inflation data for September will be holding most of the attention. August’s figure of a 1.3% increase was ahead of the 1.2% forecast and higher than July’s figure of 1%. Consensus is forecasting last month’s figure will creep up to 1.5%