Dow futures edge higher amid Fed pause bets; more earnings due
Investing.com — U.S. stock futures traded slightly higher Monday, continuing last week’s positive tone with investors looking ahead to a fresh batch of corporate earnings.
By 06:20 ET (11:20 GMT), the Dow Futures contract was up 35 points, or 0.1%, S&P 500 Futures traded 9 points, or 0.2%, higher and Nasdaq 100 Futures climbed 40 points, or 0.3%.
The main indices on Wall Street enjoyed their best week of the year last week as weaker-than-expected U.S. employment data for October added to renewed hopes that an era of unprecedented monetary tightening by the Federal Reserve may be coming to an end.
The blue chip Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 5.1%, its best week since October 2022, while the broad-based S&P 500 rose 5.9% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite 6.6%, their strongest weeks since November of last year.
This upcoming week is light on market-moving data, but there are a number of Fed speakers due to give their opinions on matters economic this week, including two appearances by Chair Jerome Powell — the second of which on Thursday includes a Q&A session.
Investors are becoming more and more confident that inflation will continue to slow, especially in the wake of Friday’s jobs report, prompting the Fed to ease next year just to stop policy becoming more restrictive in real terms.
Fed fund futures imply around an 85% chance the Federal Reserve is done with its hiking cycle, and an 80% chance it will start cutting in June.
The earnings season is starting to wind down, with 80% of the S&P 500 companies having already reported their quarterly financial results.
However, there are still a number of key companies that will provide updates this week, including Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS), Wynn Resorts (NASDAQ:WYNN),
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