Stocks steady and oil eases as markets brace for bank earnings and inflation data

Markets opened the week in a holding pattern Monday, with U.S. stock futures little changed as traders weighed easing oil prices against the latest escalation in the Middle East and a heavy calendar of earnings and economic data.

Dow Jones Industrial Average and S and P 500 futures each rose about 0.1 percent as of Monday morning, while Nasdaq 100 futures slipped 0.1 percent. The bond market was closed for Columbus Day. The yield on the 10 year Treasury, the benchmark for mortgages and much other borrowing, closed Friday around 5.24 percent, two days after briefly touching nearly 5.37 percent, its highest in more than 24 years.

Oil gave back some of its recent gains. Brent crude, the international benchmark, fell 0.6 percent to $104.90 a barrel as of Monday morning, and U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate dropped 0.8 percent to $91.10. The pullback followed President Trump's announcement of a deal for Russia to supply diesel to the United States and his claim of an immediate energy ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, a claim neither Moscow nor Kyiv has confirmed. Analysts noted the announced 300,000 tons of Russian diesel amounts to less than a day of American consumption.

The calm is unlikely to last. Earnings season kicks into high gear Tuesday with results from JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo and Citigroup, followed by Johnson and Johnson and UnitedHealth. Wednesday brings the September consumer price index, Thursday the wholesale producer price index and a public appearance by Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh at an IMF and World Bank gathering in Bangkok.

Underneath the steady futures, risks are stacking. Attacks on Saudi airports and tankers in the Strait of Hormuz have pushed shipping costs sharply higher, and data firm Kpler estimated confirmed oil shipments through the strait averaged 10.5 million barrels a day in the seven days ended October 10, roughly 38 percent below levels before the Iran war began in February.

Stocks closed last week higher, with the S and P 500 up 1.2 percent and the Nasdaq Composite posting its fourth straight weekly gain. Whether that momentum survives the week's inflation readings is the open question.