© Reuters
By Peter Nurse
Investing.com -- U.S. stocks are seen opening higher Monday, recovering ground after last week’s losses ahead of the release of a raft of U.S. economic data which should provide more insight on the near-term path of interest rates.
At 07:00 ET (12:00 GMT), the Dow futures contract was up 125 points, or 0.4%, S&P 500 futures traded 18 points, or 0.5% higher, and Nasdaq 100 futures climbed 68 points, or 0.6%.
The major indices closed sharply lower Friday, suffering their worst week so far this year after the Federal Reserve’s favorite inflation gauge, the core PCE index, increased by more than expected. This fueled expectations that the U.S. central bank will need to push interest rates higher and keep them elevated for longer than previously seen.
The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 3% last week, its fourth straight losing week. The broad-based S&P 500 dropped 2.7%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lost 3.3%.
The hot core PCE number, added to a string of stronger-than-expected economic data, has pushed the implied Federal Funds target rate up to 5.42% by July, some 75 basis points higher than at present.
Investors will get fresh insights into the strength of the economy this week with a raft of data, starting Monday with durable goods orders, pending home sales, and the Dallas Fed manufacturing survey.
In the corporate sector, Seagen (NASDAQ:SGEN) stock soared over 17% after the Wall Street Journal reported that drug giant Pfizer (NYSE:PFE), down 1.8%, was in early talks to acquire the biotech firm, in a deal possibly worth over $30 billion.
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) stock rose 2% after announcing its German plant is now producing 4,000 electric cars per week, three weeks ahead of schedule.
Union Pacific (NYSE:UNP) stock rose 8% after the railroad operator’s chief executive officer Lance Fritz said on Sunday he would step down this year, bowing to pressure after hedge fund Soroban Capital Partners called for him to be replaced.
Oil prices edged lower Monday, continuing last week’s weakness on the back of the stronger dollar over concerns that the Fed will maintain a hawkish stance for a prolonged period.
A firm dollar makes commodities, like oil, priced in the U.S. currency more expensive for foreign buyers.
Adding to the headwinds, U.S. crude oil inventories surged to the highest level since May 2021 last week, data from the Energy Information Administration showed.
By 07:00 ET, U.S. crude futures traded 0.5% lower at $75.95 a barrel, while the Brent contract fell 0.6% to $82.36. Both benchmarks lost around 1% last week, and are on course to lose 4% this month.
Additionally, gold futures rose 0.1% to $1,818.05/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.1% higher at 1.0560.
