Futures Pointing To Mixed Open On Wall Street

Following the recent strength in the markets, the major U.S. index futures are pointing to a mixed open on Monday. The Dow futures are up by 95 points, while the Nasdaq 100 futures are down by 8.50 points.

Some buying interest may be generated in reaction to news that the House of Representatives has passed a $1 trillion infrastructure bill.

The bill, which was approved in a largely party-line 228-206 vote late Friday, now heads to President Joe Biden’s desk for his signature.

However, traders may be reluctant to make significant moves amid some uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the markets following the recent upward trend.

A lack of major U.S. economic data may also keep some traders on the sidelines ahead of the release of reports on producer and consumer prices and consumer sentiment in the coming days.

Stocks fluctuated after an early move to the upside during trading on Friday but managed to remain mostly positive throughout the session. The major averages extended a recent upward trend, reaching new record closing highs.

The major averages all finished the day in positive territory. The Dow climbed 203.72 points or 0.6 percent to 36,327.95, the Nasdaq edged up 31.28 points or 0.2 percent to 15,971.59 and the S&P 500 rose 17.47 points or 0.4 percent to 4,697.53.

For the week, the tech-heavy Nasdaq spiked by 3.1 percent, the S&P 500 surged up by 2 percent and the Dow jumped by 1.4 percent.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower during trading on Monday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index both fell by 0.4 percent, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index edged down by 0.1 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets are turning in a mixed performance on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.3 percent, the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index is down by 0.1 percent and the German DAX Index is down by 0.2 percent.

In commodities trading, crude oil futures are rising $0.47 to $81.74 a barrel after jumping $2.46 to $81.27 a barrel last Friday. Meanwhile, after surging $23.30 to $1,816.80 an ounce in the previous session, gold futures are inching up $2.20 to $1,819 an ounce.

On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 113.31 yen versus the 113.41 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Friday. Against the euro, the dollar is trading at $1.1580 compared to last Friday’s $1.1567.