U.S. stock futures struggled to gain a foothold on Monday, ahead of a week marked by inflation data that sets the stage for the Federal Reserve’s final interest rate decision of the year.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures (YM=F) swung along the flat line, having a losing week for the blue chip index. Futures on the S&P 500 (ES=F) also wobbled, while contracts on the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (NQ=F) fell 0.2% in the wake of new records for both.
The next test for Wall Street stocks comes in a report on consumer inflation, which is seen as influential to the Federal Reserve’s looming policy decision. The November Consumer Price Index will test widespread expectations of a quarter-point rate cut on December 18 on Wednesday, after the latest monthly jobs report failed to shake that belief.
Meanwhile, shares of Nvidia ( NVDA ) fell after China opened an investigation into the chipmaker for possible violations of its anti-monopoly laws. The company’s lead in AI chips has put it in the middle of the US-China row over technology.
But US-listed Chinese stocks rose after Beijing took its first step toward easing monetary policy in more than a decade, signaling more and stronger stimulus measures are on the way. Shares in Alibaba (BABA, 9988.HK) and XPeng (XPEV, 9868.HK) were among the premarket gainers after shares jumped in Hong Kong.
Markets appear to be closely following the abrupt fall of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria, with gold in port investments (GC=F) rising modestly. Optimism about China’s economy is believed to overshadow any concerns about geopolitical tensions in Syria, South Korea, France and elsewhere.
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