Dow Futures Wobble
U.S. stock futures drifted between slight gains and losses in a session marked by thin trading volumes due to the Memorial Day holiday. As of 9:07 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones futures contract was up 7 points at 25,631.00. The futures contract reached an intraday high of 25,697.00. There’s new data
The benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 25,585.69 on Friday and is down roughly 3.6% over the past month. | Source: Yahoo Finance.
Futures on the S&P 500 Index edged down 1 point to 2,830.75.
The Nasdaq 100 mini futures contract nudged up 2.25 points to 7,317.75.
The New York Stock Exchange will remain closed on Monday. Regular trading hours will resume tomorrow morning.
Economic Data Take Center Stage
The U.S. economy is showing signs of weakness at the start of the second quarter. Could this be partially due to the trade war? | Source: Shutterstock.
The Dow rose on Friday, but failed to stem its fifth consecutive weekly loss amid heightened tensions over U.S.-China trade relations.
Last week, investors cut ties to riskier assets and piled into government bonds after the Trump administration blacklisted Huawei, China’s largest telecommunications company, and roughly 70 of its affiliates. Markets would later recover slightly after the Commerce Department issued a 90-day license that allows U.S. companies to continue working with Huawei temporarily.
Nevertheless, a prolonged U.S.-China trade war is beginning to impact the economy – at least, that’s what the latest economic numbers show. U.S. manufacturing activity, retail sales and overall economic growth have dwindled at the start of the second quarter, signaling a sharp deceleration from the strong start to 2019.
A steady stream of market-moving reports will be released this week, beginning on Tuesday with the Dallas Fed manufacturing business index. On Thursday, the Commerce Department will issue revised Q1 GDP data, which includes updated inflation figures. On Friday, the report on personal income and outlays will be released. The April data will be accompanied by the latest reading on core personal consumption expenditures, the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation.
Click here for a real-time Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) price chart.