US STOCKS-Futures slip as focus shifts to earnings from tech-related firms

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* Futures: Dow and Nasdaq drop 0.47%, S&P down 0.49%

By Shivani Kumaresan
April 20 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures dipped on
Tuesday as investors turned to results from Netflix and other
major technology-related companies this week to sustain the
positive start to the earnings season.
Streaming service provider Netflix NFLX.O that thrived
during last year's lockdowns will be the first among the FAANG
group to report quarterly numbers. Its shares slipped about 0.5%
in pre-market trading, ahead of its results after markets close.
International Business Machines Corp IBM.N rose 2.6% as it
recorded highest quarterly sales growth in more than two years,
boosted by its bets on the high-margin cloud computing business.
Chipmaker Intel Corp INTC.O is slated to report results on
Thursday.
"Optimism is running very high and the earnings outlook has
likely been priced to perfection at these levels, so anything
less than absolutely stellar results might be seen as a negative
surprise," said Marios Hadjikyriacos, investment analyst at
online broker XM in Cyprus.
After blockbuster earnings from major U.S. banks last week,
analysts expect first-quarter profit for overall S&P 500 firms
to jump 30.9% from a year earlier, according to Refinitiv IBES
data.
A pullback in longer-dated bond yields from 14-month highs
has eased worries over higher borrowing costs, reviving demand
for high growth technology stocks.
A string of robust economic data and expectations of a
strong rebound in corporate earnings helped the S&P 500 and the
Dow to hit record highs last week.
At 06:51 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis 1YMcv1 were down 159 points,
or 0.47%, S&P 500 E-minis EScv1 were down 20.75 points, or
0.49%. Nasdaq 100 E-minis NQcv1 were down 64.75 points, or
0.47%
Tobacco companies, including Altria Group MO.N and Philip
Morris PM.N , fell as much as 2.2% after the Wall Street
Journal reported that the Biden administration is considering a
rule that would limit nicotine or ban menthol in cigarettes.
Johnson & Johnson JNJ.N , whose COVID-19 vaccine was put on
pause last week to review reports of rare blood clots, tightened
its forecast for profits this year. Its shares slipped
0.2%.