US STOCKS-Wall St headed for lower open as focus turns to tech earnings

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* Nike falls as Citi moves to sidelines
* Tobacco cos fall on report over U.S. plan to limit
nicotine
* Futures: Dow and Nasdaq drop 0.47%, S&P down 0.49%

(Adds comment, details; updates prices)
By Shivani Kumaresan
April 20 (Reuters) - Futures pointed to a lower open for
Wall Street's main indexes on Tuesday as investors banked on
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 , which thrived
during last year's lockdowns, will be the first among the so
called FAANG group to report quarterly numbers. Its shares
slipped about 0.3% in pre-market trading, ahead of its results
after markets close.
International Business Machines Corp IBM.N rose 2.7% as it
recorded the biggest rise in quarterly sales 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.
"We are getting a little bit of weakness ... even though the
earnings and economic data is good," said Ryan Detrick, senior
market strategist at LPL Financial in Charlotte, North Carolina.
"The underlying fundamentals are extremely strong and it
wouldn't be overly concerning after the rally we have seen in
the past 13 months for the market to catch its breath a little
bit more in the face of strong earnings."
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 richly valued technology stocks.
Also, 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 08:32 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis 1YMcv1 were down 154 points,
or 0.45%, S&P 500 E-minis EScv1 were down 18 points, or 0.43%
and Nasdaq 100 E-minis NQcv1 were down 48.75 points, or 0.35%.
Tobacco companies, including Altria Group MO.N and Philip
Morris PM.N , fell as much as 4.2% after the Wall Street
Journal reported that the Biden administration is considering a
rule that would limit nicotine or ban menthol in cigarettes.
Abbott Laboratories ABT.N fell 3%, despite posting a
three-fold jump in quarterly profit.
Nike Inc NKE.N dropped about 1.6% after Citigroup lowered
its rating on the company's shares to "neutral" from "buy".