© Reuters
By Peter Nurse
Investing.com -- U.S. stocks are seen opening higher Monday, rebounding after recent sharp losses although investors remain wary that the Federal Reserve’s aggressive policy tightening will hamper economic growth next year.
At 07:00 ET (12:00 GMT), the Dow Futures contract was up 50 points or 0.2%, S&P 500 Futures traded 8 points or 0.3% higher, and Nasdaq 100 Futures climbed 35 points or 0.3%.
The three major averages closed lower Friday, posting their second consecutive losing week for the first time since September after the Federal Reserve hiked interest rates once more, and signaled more increases to come.
The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 280 points or 0.9% on Friday, the broad-based S&P 500 dropped 1.1%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lost 1%.
U.S. equities are set for their worst year since the global financial crisis, and corporate profits are about to meet the same fate, analysts at Morgan Stanley said, in a note.
A looming earnings recession “by itself could be similar to what transpired in 2008/2009,” the investment bank said, which could spark a new stock-market low that’s “much worse than what most investors are expecting.”
That said, the new week, the last full one of the year, looks set to start on a more positive note as investors seek to level out positions as the year approaches its close.
The economic calendar is very quiet Monday, and the major release comes on Wednesday with the Conference Board set to release its consumer confidence index. This is expected to tick higher after plumbing a four-month low in November.
Earlier in Europe, German business confidence improved surprisingly strongly in December, as the risk of gas rationing receded and supply chain bottlenecks continued to ease.
The research institute Ifo said its business climate index rose to 88.6 from an upwardly revised 86.4 in November.
In the corporate sector, Elon Musk remains in the spotlight, as the Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO launched a poll on Twitter on Sunday asking users whether he should step down as head of the social media platform he recently purchased.
The poll closed on Monday, with a majority of respondents saying that the billionaire should step down. Musk has yet to formally comment, but Tesla’s stock is over 4% higher in premarket trading.
Crude oil prices rose Monday, boosted by the decision of the Biden administration to begin refilling its strategic reserves, as well as hope for demand growth from China in the new year.
The U.S. government said on Friday that it will initially buy 3 million barrels of oil for its reserve, having run the Strategic Petroleum Reserve down to its lowest level in nearly 40 years in a bid to curb rising fuel prices this year.
Additionally, China has abandoned its strict ‘COVID-zero’ policy, and while the world's top crude oil importer and second largest oil consumer is experiencing a leap in cases as it reopens, hopes are increasing that economic activity will expand in 2023.
By 07:00 ET, U.S. crude futures traded 0.6% higher at $74.94 a barrel, while the Brent contract rose 0.7% to $79.62. Both contracts were still trading near one-year lows, having logged steep declines in recent sessions on fears of a potential recession in 2023.
Additionally, gold futures rose 0.3% to $1,804.75/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.3% higher at 1.0609.
