Global stocks mixed as analysts anticipate another 'snooze-fest' ahead of July Fed meeting and Big Tech earnings

Traders are waiting for the Federal Reserve's July meeting and a flurry of Big Tech earnings reports, which will be released later this week.

Brendan McDermid/Reuters

• Equities traded cautiously on Tuesday with investors eyeing the Federal Reserve's next policy decision.
• Tech giants Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and Alphabet all report quarterly earnings later this week.
• "Yesterday was a snooze-fest, and today looks likely to be one too," Caxton FX's Michael Brown said.

Markets were subdued once again on Tuesday as investors waited on the Federal Reserve's latest meeting and the release of Big Tech quarterly earnings reports later this week.

The Federal Open Market Committee concludes a two-day meeting on Wednesday, with investors anticipating another 75-basis point interest rate hike, while tech giants Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and Alphabet will all release their quarterly earnings reports this week.

US stock futures slipped slightly in early-morning trading, with Dow Jones Industrial Average futures falling 0.38% and Nasdaq futures sliding 0.32%. S&P 500 futures traded 0.30% lower after Walmart's profit warning, which dragged the stock 9.3% lower in after-hours trading.

Analysts said that low volume in futures trading meant that investors should expect another quiet day for stocks.

"Yesterday was a snooze-fest, and today looks likely to be one too," Caxton FX's head of market intelligence Michael Brown said. "Make the most of the opportunity to kick back, before the fireworks begin on Wednesday."

Alphabet and Microsoft will be the first Big Tech giant to report their earnings, with Q2 reports set to be released after Tuesday's closing bell.

"We have Microsoft and Alphabet after the bell today followed by Meta tomorrow and Apple and Amazon on Thursday," Deutsche Bank managing director Jim Reid said. "So that's over $7.5 trillion of market cap here alone at stake over the next couple of days."

Global stocks enjoyed similarly mixed fortunes, with the MSCI World Index climbing 0.1% but several key stock markets experiencing slight falls.

Europe's flagship Stoxx 600 index climbed 0.04%, weathering drops for Paris's CAC 40  and Frankfurt's DAX 40, which fell 0.15% and 0.55%, respectively. London's FTSE 100 traded more hopefully, climbing 0.63%.

In Asia, the Shanghai Composite rose 0.83% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng rallied 1.93%, but Tokyo's Nikkei 225 finished 0.24% lower at the closing bell.

Here's how the other major asset classes are performing:

• Bond yields fell, with US 10-year Treasurys down 3.1 basis points to 2.79% and US 2-year Treasurys sliding 1.7 basis points to 3.02%.
• Oil prices rallied after Russia will slash its Nord Stream gas supply to Europe to roughly 20% of its full capacity, with Brent crude up 1.75% to just under $102 a barrel and WTI crude rising 1.72% to over $98 a barrel.
• Cryptocurrencies slipped after the SEC unveiled an investigation into the Coinbase exchange, with bitcoin tumbling 4.3% to just over $21,000 and ethereum dropping 7.6% to around $1,400.

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