(Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures rose on Monday ahead of manufacturing PMI data, with attention also turning to U.S. labor market data later this week, which will be scrutinized for clues about the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy.
AI chip company Nvidia fell 2.8% in premarket trading, following choppy trading last week, along with some weakness in other semiconductor stocks. Megacaps Alphabet, Microsoft and Amazon.com were modestly higher.
The focus later in the day will be on ISM and S&P Global manufacturing PMIs. This follows Friday’s personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, an inflation report monitored by the Fed, which was unchanged in May and underscored the story of slowing inflation and resilient economic growth.
Also scheduled for the week are: JOLTS vacancies data on Tuesday, ADP employment, factory orders, ISM services PMI data, and the minutes of the Fed’s latest policy meeting on Wednesday.
Nonfarm employment data is due on Thursday, when stocks are closed for the U.S. Independence Day.
According to LSEG FedWatch, traders have largely stuck to their expectations of about two rate cuts this year, starting in September.
The Nasdaq and the leading S&P 500 posted their third quarterly profit in a row on Friday. The index, which consists mainly of technology, made a profit for the first time in three years.
“It’s calm and it’s definitely party time, at least if you’re in a major market-weighted index or the Magnificent Seven,” wrote Howard Silverblatt, senior index analyst at S&P Dow Jones Indices.
“The market is still not bothered by a slowing Fed, geopolitical issues or the upcoming US elections… July should be dominated by earnings and, more importantly, guidance for the second half of 2024.”
While the top few heavily weighted stocks have largely supported Wall Street’s upward trajectory on optimism surrounding artificial intelligence and rate cuts, the blue chip Dow has lagged its peers with a quarterly decline.
In the absence of broad-based gains, market participants are concerned about the continuation of such a lopsided rally. They argue for greater diversification of investors’ investments.
At 5:36 a.m. ET, the Dow e-minis were up 73 points, or 0.18%, the S&P 500 e-minis were up 6 points, or 0.11%, and the Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 8, 75 points, or 0.04%.
Spirit AeroSystems rose 5.9% after Boeing’s deal to buy back the fuselage supplier for $4.7 billion in shares. Boeing’s shares fell 1.2%.
Li Auto’s US-listed shares rose 2.2% after the Chinese EV maker’s car deliveries rose 46.7% year-on-year in June.
Cryptocurrency-related stocks such as Coinbase Global, Riot Platforms, Marathon Digital and MicroStrategy rose 1.8% to 4% after bitcoin prices rose 4.5% to a one-week high.
(Reporting by Ankika Biswas in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)
