Dow Jones Futures Fall After Bears Hunt Down Market Bulls; Twitter Warms To Elon Musk

Dow Jones futures fell slightly Sunday evening, along with S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures. Twitter reportedly is warming to a takeover by Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk.

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The stock market suffered yet another week of losses while Treasury yields continued to climb. The major indexes hit resistance last week and broke below support levels. It was even worse beneath the surface. Leading stocks and sectors that had held up well showed strain, with miners in particularly selling off hard. Buying opportunities quickly reversed lower. Growth stocks continued to tumble.

Earnings Week

It’s the peak week for earnings, with Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), Amazon.com (AMZN), Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL), Exxon Mobil (XOM), Caterpillar (CAT), Chevron (CVX), Raytheon Technologies (RTX) and General Dynamics (GD) among the hundreds of companies reporting this coming week.

But with market conditions deteriorating, the flood of earnings gives investors yet another reason to stay on the sidelines. But keep a close eye on big earnings, such as Apple, Exxon and General Dynamics, and the market reaction to those reports.

Tesla stock is on IBD Leaderboard and the IBD 50. XOM stock is on the Big Cap 20 list, which is filled with energy and commodity plays.

The video embedded in this article reviews the market action in detail, while also analyzing AAPL stock, Exxon and General Dynamics.

Earnings Preview: Seven Setups To Watch

Dow Jones Futures Today

Dow Jones futures fell 0.15% vs. fair value. S&P 500 futures lost 0.2% and Nasdaq 100 futures declined 0.25%.

A small number of Covid cases in Beijing is raising concerns of a lockdown in China’s capital. Meanwhile, Shanghai remains locked down for a fourth week, though Tesla and other factories have resumed limited production.

Crude oil prices fell more than 1% to slightly above $100 a barrel.

With French President Emmanuel Macron winning re-election on Sunday, the European Union is expected to begin discussing a ban on Russian crude oil imports.

Remember that overnight action in Dow futures and elsewhere doesn’t necessarily translate into actual trading in the next regular stock market session.

Join IBD experts as they analyze actionable stocks in the stock market rally on IBD Live

Twitter Open To Elon Musk Bid?

Twitter seems more open to a takeover bid from Tesla CEO Musk, according to The Wall Street Journal. Musk announced Friday that the CEO had lined up financing for a Twitter bid, including some of his TSLA stock holdings. The two sides are meeting Sunday, the WSJ said, citing sources, to discuss the unofficial offer of $43 billion, or $54.20 a share.

It’s unclear if Musk would raise his offer, or if another bidder will appear.

Twitter stock rose 8.5% last week to 48.93. It’s up 24.5% since before April 4, when Musk belatedly disclosed a 9.1% TWTR stake. Meanwhile, Snap (SNAP) is down 20% and Facebook stock 18% over that span, even with a small Musk-Twitter bump on April 4. That suggests TWTR stock could plunge below pre-Musk levels if there’s no deal.

Twitter and Facebook report earnings this week, following worse-than-expected Snap results last week.

As for Tesla stock, it rose just over 2% to 1,005.05 last week, but that’s after spiking to 1,092.22 intraday Thursday following blowout earnings.

Tesla Earnings Boom, But This Rival Is Set To Seize EV Crown

Stock Market Action

The stock market tried to rally but then sold off hard, plunging to finish at weekly lows. But the sharp weekly losses mask the size of the sell-off from Thursday’s intraday highs.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.75% in last week’s stock market trading. The S&P 500 index slumped 2.7%. The Nasdaq composite tumbled 3.8%. The small-cap Russell 2000 gave up 3.1%.

The 10-year Treasury yield rose 8 basis points to 2.91%. A 50-basis point Fed rate hike at the early May meeting is a virtual lock, along with the start of balance sheet cuts. Now markets have largely priced in a 75-basis point hike at the June meeting.

U.S. crude oil futures fell 4.1% to $102.71 a barrel last week.

Among the best ETFs, the Innovator IBD 50 ETF (FFTY) plunged 6.3% last week, while the Innovator IBD Breakout Opportunities ETF (BOUT) retreated just over 4%. The iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF (IGV) skidded 5.5%. The VanEck Vectors Semiconductor ETF (SMH) lost 1.5% after giving up solid gains midweek.

SPDR S&P Metals & Mining ETF (XME) dived 11.3% last week. The Global X U.S. Infrastructure Development ETF (PAVE) retreated 1.9%. U.S. Global Jets ETF (JETS) popped 2.7%. SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF (XHB) dipped 0.2%. The Energy Select SPDR ETF (XLE) fell 4.5%, with Exxon stock and Chevron the top two holdings. The Financial Select SPDR ETF (XLF) lost nearly 2%. The Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLV) gave up 3.5%.

Reflecting more-speculative story stocks, ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) plunged 11.1% last week and ARK Genomics ETF (ARKG) 9.8%.

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Apple Stock

Apple…