U.S. Futures start the week near the flat line, Big Tech are down

Equity futures started the week near the flat line before the markets opened, as investors shifted from technology stocks with mega-capitalization to energy and financial stocks.

Dow Jones Industrial futures fell about 20 points. Dow celebrated its best weekly performance since June last week. S&P 500 futures lost 0.3% and Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.5%.

Energy stocks rose in the pre-market after WTI crude oil exceeded $ 81 a barrel. The US oil benchmark was still more than 2% higher, but fell from the highs of the session.

Bank stocks like JPMorgan gained during trading before the US session.

Merck shares rose after the drugmaker asked the Food and Drug Administration to authorize the emergency use of its Covid antiviral pills.

Meanwhile, the names of Big Tech, Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and Alphabet were weak in pre-market trading.

Futures also took a hit on Monday as Goldman cut its forecast for economic growth. Goldman lowered its growth forecast for 2022 to 4% from 4.4% and lowered its estimate for 2021 to 5.6% from 5.7%. The firm noted the expiration of fiscal support from Congress and the slower-than-expected recovery in consumer spending, particularly services.

The US bond market closed on Monday for Columbus Day.

This week, the big banks will begin their third-quarter earnings reports. JPMorgan kicks off on Wednesday, with Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo and Citigroup to follow later in the week. Delta Airlines and Walgreens Boots Alliance reports will also be released this week.

Analysts estimate a profit growth rate of 27.6% for the S&P 500 in the third quarter, which would be the third highest growth rate since 2010.

Last week, the Dow won 1.2%, for its best week of June 25. The S&P 500 was also trading green as shares reversed losses earlier in the week as Congress gathered for a short-term debt ceiling deal.

Shares managed to record gains for the week despite the poor employment record on Friday. The Labor Department said Friday that the economy added only 194,000 jobs in September, compared to the Dow Jones estimate of 500,000.

Chris Zacareli, chief investment officer of the Independant Advisor Alliance, added that a report on “extremely bad” jobs would be needed to reject the Federal Reserve’s plan to begin removing incentives, and that although the report is “disappointing, without doubt we don’t believe it’s bad enough to stop them. “

In addition, the unemployment rate fell to 4.8%, much lower than economists forecast.

After a loss of 4.8% in September, the S&P 500 has already risen by about 2% in October and is about 3% of its record.