Investing.com - U.S. futures pointed to a slightly higher open on Monday as investors looked ahead to a busy week for economic data and earnings.
The blue-chip Dow futures gained 99 points, or 0.40%, by 6:50AM ET (10:50GMT), the S&P 500 futures added 9 points, or 0.32%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures traded up 34 points, or 0.50%
After Wall Street ended the past week flat to lower - S&P 500 ended barely changed, while the Dow and the Nasdaq lost 0.6% and 0.4%, respectively - traders looked set to start Monday off to the upside.
The two major focal points on this week’s economic calendar will be on the Fed’s monetary policy decision to be announced on Wednesday along with the publication of the monthly employment report on Friday.
In the first case, the Fed is not expected to make a move on interest rates, though market participants will keep a close eye on the statement for any clues on the central bank’s current outlook for monetary policy. Markets are currently pricing in the next hike for the June meeting with follow-up increase in September. A third move in December is currently a coin toss.
With regard to the employment report, the consensus forecast is that the data will show jobs growth of 185,000, after adding 103,000 positions in March, while the unemployment rate is forecast to dip to 4.0% from 4.1%.
However, most of the focus will likely be on average hourly earnings figures, which are expected to rise 0.2%, following a gain of 0.3% a month earlier. On an annualized basis, wages are forecast to increase 2.7%, the same as the rise seen in March.
Ahead of those two key appointments for the week, investors will likely focus Monday on the publication of personal income and spending for March at 8:30AM ET (12:30GMT), which includes the core personal consumption expenditures inflation data, the Fed's preferred metric for inflation.
In other data out Monday, the Chicago purchasing managers’ index for April and March pending home sales will be released at 9:45AM ET (13:34GMT) and 10:00AM GMT, respectively.
While waiting for the reports, the dollar continued its upward trend against a basket of the other major currencies on Monday. The dollar index climbed 1.37% last week, boosted by rising U.S. yields and the prospect of a faster pace of rate hikes by the Federal Reserve this year.
Meanwhile, gold headed lower on Monday as a stronger dollar dampened demand from holders of other currencies and geopolitical concerns eased further, lessening the precious metal’s appeal as a safe haven. South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s spokesmen said on Sunday that North Korea would shut down its main nuclear test site in May. The news came after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un pledged “complete denuclearization” at a meeting with Moon on Friday.
On the earnings front, McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) and Loews (NYSE:L) were among a handful of earnings to be released on Monday.The week will be busy with 145 S&P 500 firms publishing quarterly reports, although Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) will likely steal the spotlight when it reports quarterly earnings after Tuesday's closing bell. The iPhone-maker's stock has been slammed in recent weeks due to worries over slowing phone sales and is now down more than 4% for the year and more than 10% from its all-time high.
In M&A news, Sprint and T-Mobile formally announced a merger in a deal worth approximately $26 billion. The all-stock transaction represents a total implied enterprise value of approximately $59 billion for Sprint and approximately $146 billion for the combined company.
Shares in Sprint (NYSE:S) tumbled more than 11% in premarket trade Monday, while T-Mobile (NASDAQ:TMUS) shares were off around 1%.
Over in the UK, Walmart’s (NYSE:WMT) British unit Asda and Sainsbury’s (LON:SBRY) confirmed they had agreed a £15 billion ($20.6 billion) merger to create Britain's biggest supermarket group by market share, surpassing current leader Tesco (LON:TSCO). The sale of Asda marks Walmart’s operational exit from the UK although the U.S. retail giant will maintain a 42% share in the new company.
Europe’s major bourses posted slight gains as companies delivered strong earnings figures.
Earlier, Asian markets closed mostly higher although trading was subdued with Japan and China closed for a holiday.
Lastly, in commodities, oil prices slumped around 1% on Monday as markets reacted to yet another rise in U.S. drilling for new production. U.S. drillers added five oil rigs in the week to April 27, bringing the total count to 825, energy services firm Baker Hughes said in its closely followed report on Friday.
That was the highest number since March 2015, underscoring worries that escalating U.S. output could derail OPEC’s efforts to reduce the global supply glut.
U.S. crude futures fell 1.12% to $67.34 by 6:51AM ET (10:51GMT), while Brent oil traded down 1.04% to $73.02.