Following the strong upward move seen last week, stocks may show a lack of direction in early trading on Monday. The major index futures are currently pointing to a roughly flat open for the markets, with the S&P 500 futures up by just 0.1 percent.
Traders may be reluctant to make significant moves following recent volatility in the markets, which saw the markets fall sharply early this month before showing a substantial rebound over the past several sessions.
The U.S. economic calendar also starts the week relatively quiet following last week’s avalanche of data, although key events are likely to attract attention later in the week
The minutes of the Federal Reserve’s latest monetary policy meeting may shed additional light on the outlook for interest rates along with remarks by Fed Chair Jerome Powell and other Fed officials at the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium.
According to CME Group’s FedWatch Tool, there is a 73.5 percent of a quarter point rate cut next month and a 26.5 percent chance of a half point rate cut.
Among individual stocks, shares of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) are moving notably higher in pre-market trading after the chipmaker announced an agreement to acquire server maker ZT Systems in a cash and stock transaction valued at $4.9 billion.
Shortly after the start of trading, the Conference Board is scheduled to release its report on leading economic indicators in the month of July. The leading economic index is expected decrease by 0.3 percent in July after dipping by 0.2 percent in June.
After showing a lack of direction early in the session, stocks moved mostly higher over the course of the trading day on Friday. The major averages climbed more firmly into positive territory after bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line in early trading.
The major averages pulled back off their best levels late in the day but still closed modestly higher. The Dow climbed 96.70 points or 0.2 percent to 40,659.76, the Nasdaq rose 37.22 points or 0.2 percent to 17,631.72 and the S&P 500 edged up 11.03 points or 0.2 percent to 5,554.25.
For the week, the Nasdaq soared by 5.3 percent, the S&P 500 spiked by 3.9 percent and the Dow surged by 2.9 percent.
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance during trading on Monday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index tumbled by 1.8 percent, while China’s Shanghai Composite Index climbed by 0.5 percent.
Meanwhile, the major European markets have all moved to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.5 percent, the German DAX Index is up by 0.3 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.1 percent.
In commodities trading, crude oil futures are sliding $0.77 to $75.88 a barrel after tumbling $1.51 to $76.65 a barrel last Friday. Meanwhile, after surging $45.40 to $2,537.80 an ounce in the previous session, gold futures are slipping $5.40 to $2,532.40 an ounce.
On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 146.15 yen versus the 147.63 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Friday. Against the euro, the dollar is trading at $1.1036 compared to last Friday’s $1.1027.
