By Devik Jain

(Reuters] – Both the Nasdaq Index and the Dow were expected to decline from their record-breaking highs Friday. This was despite the fact that the mega-caps Apple (NASDAQ;) and Amazon.com’s results have reignited concern about labor and supply shortages which has been the focus of this quarter’s quarterly earnings season.

Investors have closely followed the progress of corporate America in navigating these issues, as well as concerns about rising inflation. After generally positive earnings reports that helped investors see past mixed macroeconomic data, they are keeping an eye on this.

Apple lost 3.5% in premarket trades after Apple warned that supply chain disruptions would have a worse impact on the holiday quarter. This warning came after $6 billion was spent in supply problems in the previous quarter.

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:) fell 4.8% following a downbeat forecast for holiday quarter sales by the largest online retailer. This was due to lower pay and operational disruptions that reduce the company’s online retail revenue.

Starbucks Corp (NASDAQ:) dropped 4.7% following the expectation that fiscal 2022’s operating margin would be 17%. This is below its long-term goal due to investments and inflation.

Now, focus is on U.S. consumer expenditure and on the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge (the core PCE price inf) which will be released at 8:30 AM. ET) for insight into the state of the economy before the next central bank policy meeting.

Markets will give data more weight. OANDA senior market analyst for Asia Pacific Jeffrey Halley said that high prints could see Fed taper trade prices priced in the middle of the week with stock lower than the two punches from Apple and Amazon.”

Markets could benefit from some tangible progress in the U.S. spending bill negotiations instead of just empty rhetoric at the end of each week.

U.S. President Joe Biden suffered a defeat on Thursday when the House of Representatives dropped plans to vote against an infrastructure bill. Progressives wanted more time for their call for $1.75 billion for social initiative programs.

6.44 a.m. ET fell 51 points (or 0.14%) and was down 23 points (0.5%), respectively. ET also dropped 144.25 point, or 92%.

For the week, S&P 500 has gained nearly 1.1%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq has risen 2.4%.

Analysts expects profits for S&P 500 companies to grow 38.6% year-on-year in the third quarter, up from an expected 29.4% rise at the start of the earnings season, according to data from Refinitiv.

Chevron After the oil giant posted its largest quarterly profit in eight year, Corp (NYSE:), rose 1.9%.

Its peer Exxon Mobil The stock also moved higher in anticipation of the earnings report that was due to be released before the bell.

Western Digital Corp (NASDAQ: ) fell 11.1% after the Storage Hardware Maker forecasted a lower second-quarter profit.