Futures edge higher as focus shifts to inflation, jobs data
(Reuters) — U.S. stock index futures edged higher on Monday, with investor focus on key inflation data and employment readings that are due later this week for further clues on the Federal Reserve's interest rate trajectory.
Stocks ended a volatile session higher on Friday after Fed Chair Jerome Powell at the Jackson Hole meet said the U.S. central bank may need to raise interest rates further to ensure inflation is contained.
However, with Powell acknowledging the progress made on easing price pressures as well as risks from surprising strength of the U.S. economy, the market's focus will now pivot to a slew of key economic data in the week.
The personal consumption expenditures price index, the Fed's preferred inflation gauge, is set to be released on Thursday and the non-farm pay rolls data is due on Friday.
«While our base case is that the Fed has already reached the end of its tightening cycle, views on the Fed could continue to shift in response to data over coming weeks,» Mark Haefele, chief investment officer at UBS Global Wealth Management, said.
Investors are also bracing for a potentially volatile September as the market faces key economic data reports, a Fed meeting and worries over a possible government shutdown during a month of historically muted equity performance.
Traders' bets of a pause in tightening by the Fed were unchanged for the September meeting, while bets of an interest rate hike in November rose to 51% from 38% a week earlier after Powell's Jackson Hole remarks, according to CME Group's (NASDAQ:CME) FedWatch tool.
U.S.-listed shares of Chinese companies, including PDD Holdings, JD (NASDAQ:JD).com, Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU) and Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) rose between 1.2% and 1.5% before the bell, after
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