U.S. stock futures were trading mixed early Monday, kicking off the final week of another strong quarter for Wall Street.
Futures tracking the benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose about 0.1%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index (^IXIC) was just below flat. Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) futures rose 0.3%.
Stock markets are hoping for more tailwinds on a strong quarter so far, with the S&P 500 up about 4.5% this quarter and the Nasdaq surging about 8% on the back of an AI-led rally.
But that rally ended last week, showing signs of fatigue. Nvidia (NVDA), Wall Street’s darling so far in 2024, fell after hitting a new all-time high heading into the weekend. The decline was expected to continue into early Monday morning, with shares down about 2% in premarket trading.
This week is likely to bring renewed attention to the macroeconomic front and the US political situation, with US President Joe Biden and Republican front-runner Donald Trump set to hold their first debate on Thursday night. Yahoo Finance’s Ben Warschle has written an excellent primer on what to watch from a US economic perspective.
And then there’s inflation. The personal consumption expenditures (PCE) index is released on Friday morning, and it includes the “core” PCE measure that the Federal Reserve pays most attention to.
Economists expect core PCE to have risen just 0.1% last month, the slowest monthly increase since November. Such a figure would add to a string of positive recent data and could ease concerns from Fed policymakers about cutting interest rates this year. Traders expect the Fed to start cutting rates in September, according to the CME FedWatch tool.
