Stock Market News – Futures Set to Open Down
Stocks looked set to rise slightly at the start of a week in which speeches by big-name policymakers and a barrage of macroeconomic data will either cement or check the market’s current rate-cut euphoria.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average ticked up 6 points after the gauge reached another record close on Friday. S&P 500 futures climbed 0.1%, and contracts tied to the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 were up 0.2%.
Stocks shook off the typical September slump last week, powered higher by the Federal Reserve’s jumbo interest rate cut, which eased worries about a U.S. recession. Fed speakers including Atlanta president Raphael Bostic and dissenting governor Michelle Bowman will share their views this week, giving investors a further indication of where borrowing costs are headed.
The final revision of U.S. second-quarter GDP data on Thursday and the release of the personal consumption index–the Fed’s own preferred inflation gauge–on Friday could also impact stock prices. The week after the third Friday of September is historically the S&P 500’s worst week of the year, so expect some bumpiness if the data comes in weaker-than-expected.
“Fedspeak will probably dominate the week until we reach that core PCE number… [there will be] a busy array of speakers and plenty of focus of all of them,” Deutsche Bank global head of macro research Jim Reid said.
Oil edged up as traders weighed up tensions between Israel and Hezbollah and considered how the Fed’s outsize rate cut might impact crude markets. The Brent international benchmark climbed 0.1% to $74.55 a barrel, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate prices rose 0.2% to $71.11 a barrel.
Bond yields were largely unchanged since Friday. The 10-year U.S. Treasury note was yielding 3.745%, while the 2-year yield was at 3.574%.