US STOCKS-Futures dip as Powell drives Treasury yields higher; earnings in focus

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Caterpillar rises after upbeat Q4 results

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Estee Lauder jumps on job-cut plan

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Catalent up on Novo Nordisk parent's $11.5-bln buyout plan

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Futures: Dow down 0.07%, S&P down 0.11%, Nasdaq flat

(Updated at 7:23 a.m. ET/ 1223 GMT)

By Johann M Cherian and Ankika Biswas

Feb 5 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures slipped on Monday under pressure from rising Treasury yields as Fed Chair Jerome Powell pushed back firmly against market speculations of imminent rate cuts, while investors awaited more earnings from corporate America.

In an interview aired on Sunday, Powell said more evidence was needed to show a sustainable downtrend in inflation to warrant lower interest rates as the economy's strength kept recession risks in check.

While latest data signaled the U.S. labor market's resilience in the face of the tightest credit conditions seen in years, strengthening hopes of a soft landing, uncertainty over when borrowing costs might be lowered prevailed.

U.S. Treasury yields

were on the rise, with the two-year jumping to a one-month high, at 4.4%.

"The market was getting ahead of itself with respect to aggressive rate-cut pricing, and in recent sessions, this warning has proven to be true," said Joel Kruger, market strategist, LMAX Group.

"The Fed was less dovish (in last week's

policy decision

) than what the market was looking for. Investors were still not wanting to be convinced until Friday's surprise U.S. jobs report, followed by weekend comments from the Fed Chair."

Traders now expect a 64% chance of an at least 25-basis-point rate cut in May and a near-95% chance in June, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.

Investors also took a breather from Wall Street's recent bull-market run that saw the benchmark S&P 500 and the blue-chips Dow ending at record high levels on Friday, boosted by solid results from megacaps Meta Platforms and Amazon.com.

Results are now in from nearly half of the S&P 500 firms and fourth-quarter earnings estimates are improving sharply, with about 80% of the reports so far beating analysts' expectations, according to LSEG data on Friday.

Caterpillar jumped 4.1% in premarket trading after a higher quarterly profit, while Estee Lauder climbed 16.4% as the MAC lipstick maker aims to cut about 3% to 5% of its workforce, while also slashing its annual profit forecast.

Focus is also on earnings from legacy names like Eli Lilly , Ford and PepsiCo, scheduled through the week.

Traders will also parse the Institute of Supply Management's (ISM) non-manufacturing survey for January later in the day to gauge the economy's health.

Lined up through the day are remarks from Chicago's Austan Goolsbee and Atlanta's Raphael Bostic for clues on the rate-cut stance of the Fed's policymakers.

At 7:23 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 27 points, or 0.07%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 5.25 points, or 0.11%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 0.5 points.

Boeing dropped 2.1% after saying a new quality glitch in some 737 MAX planes would delay some deliveries.

Tesla lost 1.1% after brokerage Piper Sandler slashed its price target for the electric-vehicle maker, while Nvidia gained 3.3% following a price-target raise by Goldman Sachs.

Catalent soared 11.5% on Novo Nordisk parent Novo Holdings' plans to buy the contract drugmaker in an $11.5-billion all-cash deal, to expand its capacity for popular weight-loss drug Wegovy.

(Reporting by Johann M Cherian and Ankika Biswas in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel and Pooja Desai)