U.S. stock indexes slip as Sanofi buys Translate Bio

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As Sanofi buys Translate Bio to increase in up to $3.2 billion transactions.

Aug 3 - Wall Street was set to rise on Tuesday, as an upbeat corporate earnings season and a pickup in global deals activity lifted demand for risky equities although gains were capped by concerns around a surge in the Delta variant of the coronavirus.

Shares of Dupont rose 2.2% in premarket trading after the industrial materials maker raised its full-year forecast for a second time.

Stronger-than-expected profit reports have already ratcheted up very high forecasts of second quarter results for Corporate America, with earnings now estimated to have climbed about 90% against forecasts of 65.4% at the start of July, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Still, the three main U.S. stock indexes have slipped from record highs as investors booked profits amid lofty stock valuations and as fears over slowing economic growth and rising cases of the Delta variant struck sentiment

Investors are not willing to sell at current levels, but also not willing to commit to fresh capital due to rising COVID - 19 cases and a possible change in taxes, which could lead the market to trade quite range-bound, said Rick Meckler, a partner at Cherry Lane Investments in New Vernon, New Jersey.

A deepening regulatory crackdown in the Chinese market has also sent jitters across the global technology sector. China's Tencent Holdings Ltd. was slumped in Asia as much as 10% after a Chinese state media outlet branded online games as spiritual opium.

Shares of U.S. - listed gaming companies included Activision Blizzard Inc and Take-Two Interactive Software Inc inched lower by 08: 23 a.m. Dow e-minis were up 95 points, or 0.27%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 8.75 points, or 0.22%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 20.75 points, or 0.14%.

Bond yields steadied after expected weaker manufacturing data in the previous session sent them to their lowest since July 20. Shares of early credit companies, which generally track bond yields, go higher in early deals.

On Tuesday, focus will be on factory orders for June, while later in the week traders will turn to data on U.S. service sector and the monthly jobs report for July.

In M&A - driven moves, Translate Bio surged 29.4% after Sanofi agreed to buy the US biotech company in a $3.2 billion deal:

Industrie firm Cummins Inc gained 1.3% as it said it would explore options for its unit which makes filters, coolant and chemical products.

Under Armour Inc jumped 6.1% after raising its revenue forecasts.

Drugmaker Eli Lilly and Co, on the other hand, slipped 1.9% as it reported a 2% drop in quarterly profit.