U.S. stock indexes were poised for a higher open on Monday ahead of manufacturing PMI numbers, with focus also on data later in the week for some evidence of a weaker labour market to firm up bets around interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.
Megacap stocks such as Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG), Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) were up between 0.6% and 1% in premarket trading.
However, AI chip firm Nvidia and other semiconductor stocks such as Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU) and Arm Holdings (NASDAQ: ARM) dipped between 0.3% and 1.1%.
The focus will be on ISM and S&P Global (NYSE: SPGI) manufacturing PMIs due after market opens. This follows Friday’s personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation, which was unchanged in May and underscored the narrative of slowing inflation and resilient economic growth.
Also scheduled for the week are JOLTS job openings data on Tuesday, and ADP (NASDAQ: ADP) employment, factory orders, ISM services PMI data and minutes of the Fed’s latest policy meeting on Wednesday.
Non-farm payrolls data is due on Thursday when trading will be shut for equities on account of U.S. Independence Day.
“The market looks to start the second half with more tailwinds than headwinds … we seem to be inching closer to a place where the Fed will feel comfortable enough cutting rates and that likely happens in September,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B Riley Wealth.
Traders have largely stuck to their bets of around two interest rate cuts this year, starting from September, according to LSEG FedWatch.
Comments from New York Fed President John Williams are also due later on Monday.
The Nasdaq and the benchmark S&P 500 notched their third straight quarterly gains on Friday, with the tech-heavy index doing so for the first time in three years.
As the top few heavily weighted stocks have largely supported Wall Street’s upward trajectory on optimism around artificial intelligence and interest rate cuts, the blue-chip Dow has lagged its peers with a quarterly decline.
Owing to the lack of broad-based gains, market participants have highlighted concerns over the sustenance of such a skewed rally, calling for the need for greater diversification in investor holdings.
At 8:33 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 76 points, or 0.19%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 12.75 points, or 0.23%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 49 points, or 0.25%.
Spirit AeroSystems gained 4.2% following Boeing’s (NYSE: BOE) deal to buy back the fuselage supplier for $4.7 billion in stock. Boeing’s shares slipped 0.8%.
Chewy soared 11.8% after stock influencer Keith Gill, also known as “Roaring Kitty”, disclosed a 6.6% stake in the pet products retailer.
Pet-focused company Petco Health and Wellness slipped 2.2% after early gains, while videogame retailer GameStop (NYSE: GME), another Gill stock favourite, slumped 6.9%.
Cryptocurrency-related stocks Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN) Global, Riot Platforms (NASDAQ: RIOT), Marathon Digital (NASDAQ: MARA) and MicroStrategy gained between 2% and 3% after bitcoin prices jumped as much as 3% to a one-week high.
Source: https://au.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/futures-inch-up-as-focus-shifts-to-jobs-data-3323191
