Stocks - U.S. Futures Flat as Home Depot Maintains Earnings Guidance

Investing.com - U.S. futures were flat on Tuesday on a relatively quiet morning that in which Home Depot's quarterly update helped to dispel some concerns about the impact of the U.S.-China trade war on the domestic economy.

The home improvement retailer upheld its full-year guidance for earnings but cut its forecast for sales "to account primarily for continued lumber price deflation, as well as potential impacts to the U.S. consumer arising from recently announced tariffs," chairman and chief executive Craig Menear said in a statement.

The company said it believed the health of the economy and U.S. consumers, as well as “a stable housing environment” will sustain its business. Its shares were up 0.5% in premarket trading.

Nasdaq 100 futures rose 8 points or 0.1% by 6:41 AM ET (10:41 GMT), while Dow futures were flat at 26,119.5 points and S&P 500 futures remained steady at 2,924.88 points.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) was in focus after Bloomberg reported that its TV streaming service will cost $9.99 per month and is expected to launch in November. The service would be released around the same time as Disney’s streaming service and will create more competition for streaming giant Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX). Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS) fell 0.4%, while Netflix declined 0.8%. In a sector dominated by ever-higher spending on content, Apple's substantial cash reserves contrast sharply with Netflix's frequent use of the debt markets to fund its expansion.

Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) and Twitter inched up 0.1% after the social media giants blocked state-backed social media campaigns that originate in mainland China. The companies said the campaigns undermined protests in Hong Kong, while China maintains its right to voice its opinion on the situation. Facebook continued to enjoy support from comments Monday by Federal Trade Commission head Joseph Simons that regulators would find the company hard to break up.

Elsewhere, JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) fell 0.3%, while HP (NYSE:HPQ) slumped 2%.

Elanco tumbled 2.6% after it agreed to buy the animal health business of Germany's Bayer (DE:BAYGN) for $7.6 billion. Bayer was up 0.7% on the German DAX.

On the data front, the Philly Fed non-manufacturing numbers come out at 8:30 AM ET (12:30 GMT).

In commodities, crude oil slipped 0.1% to $56.09 a barrel. Gold futures gained 0.2% to $1,514.35 a troy ounce, while the U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was flat at 98.250.

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