Dow Jones Today: Stock Futures Tick Lower After Two Straight Weeks of Gains for Major Indexes

Stocks moved slight lower in early trading Monday as investors prepared for a slew of retail sector earnings reports in the coming days and a major speech from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell at the end of the week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI), S&P 500 (SPX) and Nasdaq Composite (IXIC) were each down 0.1% in recent trading. Stocks had a sluggish finish to last week as investor expectations for the Fed to cut interest rates moderated after worrisome wholesale inflation data. Nonetheless, the major indexes posted gains for the second straight week, and entered the week just below record highs.

The big event of the week comes Friday, when Powell will speak at the Jackson Hole Symposium, an annual gathering of the world’s central bankers. Investors will be looking for confirmation that the Fed could be on course to cut its benchmark lending rate at the next policy committee meeting in September. After the Fed decided last month to stand pat on rates, Powell said the Fed needed to see more data on how tariffs were affecting inflation before adjusting policy.

Meanwhile, earnings reports from major retailers—Home Depot (HD), Lowe’s (LOW), Walmart (WMT), Target (TGT) and TJ Maxx parent TJX (TJX) are among those scheduled to release results this week—will provide investors with clues about the impact of tariffs and the state of consumer spending.

Shares of the world’s largest technology companies, which have an outsized influence on the overall market, were mixed this morning. Meta Platforms (META) shares declined 3%, while Broadcom (AVGO) declined 2%, Amazon (AMZN) fell 1%, and Microsoft (MSFT) ticked lower. Nvidia (NVDA), Apple (AAPL), Alphabet (GOOG) and Tesla (TSLA) each rose less than 1%.

Novo Nordisk (NVO) shares jumped 5% after the FDA approved the pharmaceutical firm’s popular weight-loss drug, Wegovy, to treat a serious liver disease.

Crypto-related stocks were losing ground as the price of bitcoin tumbled. Major bitcoin buyer Strategy (MSTR) and crypto exchange Coinbase Global (COIN) were each down about 2%.

Bitcoin was at $115,200, down from an overnight high of around $118,000. The digital currency hit a record high of $124,500 on Thursday before falling sharply as market participants scaled back their expectations for a rate cut.

The U.S. dollar index, which measures the performance of the dollar against a basket of foreign currencies, rose 0.2% to 98.05, after slipping to a three-week low on Friday.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which affects borrowing costs on all sorts of loans, was at 4.30% this morning, down from 4.32% at Friday’s close. The yield traded as low as 4.20% last week before the disappointing inflation report.

West Texas Intermediate futures, the U.S. crude oil benchmark, slipped 0.5% to $62.50, extending a slump that has taken them to their lowest level since early June. Gold futures rose 0.1% to $3,385 an ounce.