Goldman Profit Beat, Easing Rate-hike Bets Drive Futures Higher

U.S. stock indexes looked set to open higher on Monday after Goldman Sachs beat profit expectations, extending last week's positive momentum amid easing bets of a super-sized interest-rate hike by the Federal Reserve.

Dow futures rose nearly 300 points in premarket trading, picking up from Friday when U.S. economic data showed stronger-than-expected retail sales, an uptick in consumer sentiment, and lower inflation expectations.

"You're getting the feeling that perhaps all the bad news is out of the way and investors are looking to see if this would be a reasonable entry point," said Rick Meckler, partner at Cherry Lane Investments.

Goldman Sachs gained 3.4% as it reported a smaller-than-expected 48% slump in second-quarter profit, helped by strength in its fixed-income trading. The investment banking giant's results follow upbeat quarterly results from Citigroup Inc on Friday.

Most big U.S. banks were higher on Monday, but Bank of America Corp fell 0.9% after posting a nearly 34% drop in second-quarter profit.

At 8:22 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 282 points, or 0.9%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 31.75 points, or 0.82%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 117.5 points, or 0.98%.

U.S. futures, however, pulled back from session highs, tracking a fall in European markets after Russia's Gazprom declared force majeure on some gas supplies to Europe.

Among other shares, Boeing Co jumped 4% after Delta Air Lines said it will buy 100 MAX 10 jets worth about $13.5 billion at list prices and has options to buy another 30 at the Farnborough air show.

With second-quarter earnings season in full swing, analysts now expect aggregate year-on-year S&P 500 second-quarter profit growth of 5.6%, down from the 6.8% estimate at the beginning of the quarter, according to Refinitiv data.