US pre-open: Stocks firmly lower, Powell testimony and Treasury yields in focus

Wall Street futures had stocks opening firmly in the red ahead of the bell on Monday ahead of Senate testimony from Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell tomorrow.

As of 1235 GMT, Dow Jones futures were down 0.54%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.74% and 1.32% lower, respectively.

The Dow was flat at the end of the session on Friday, while the S&P 500 posted its first losing week this month.

Market participants were paying strict attention to the 10-year Treasury yield, which jumped 14 basis points last week to 1.34%, edging towards its highest level since February 2020. The 10-year yield was up another three basis points early on Monday at 1.37%.

Traders will also be focussed on Powell, who will deliver his semi-annual testimony on the state of the US economy before the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday, with comments on rates and inflation potentially determining the market's direction for the rest of the week.

As far as the Covid-19 pandemic was concerned, the White House expects to ship out millions of delayed coronavirus vaccine doses during the week after winter storms disrupted logistics networks.

On the macro front, the Chicago Fed's January national activity index will be published at 1330 GMT, while last month's leading index from the Conference Board will follow at 1500 GMT and the Dallas Fed's February manufacturing index was slated for release at 1530 GMT.

In the corporate space, Dish Network posted fourth-quarter results that included revenues that were ahead of expectations, while Royal Caribbean was also slated to update on trading before the opening bell.