Futures Pointing To Mixed Open On Wall Street

Following the mixed performance seen last week, the major U.S. stock indexes may once again move in opposite directions in early trading on Monday.

The major index futures are currently pointing to a mixed open for the markets, with the Dow futures up by 0.1 percent but the Nasdaq futures down by 0.2 percent.

A decrease by shares of Nvidia (NVDA) may weigh on the Nasdaq, as the AI darling is slumping by 2.1 percent in pre-market trading.

The drop by Nvidia comes amid news a Chinese regulator has launched an investigation into whether the chipmaker violated the country’s antimonopoly laws.

Overall trading activity may be somewhat subdued, however, as traders look ahead to the release of closely watched inflation data later in the week.

Reports on consumer and producer price inflation, which are due to be released on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively, could impact the outlook for interest rates.

While the Federal Reserve is widely expected to lower rates by another 25 basis points next week, there is some uncertainty about whether the central bank will continue cutting rates early next year.

The major U.S. stock indexes all moved to the upside early in the session on Friday but turned mixed over the course of the trading day. While the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 managed to remain in positive territory and reach new record closing highs, the narrower Dow pulled back into negative territory.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq ended the session near its best levels of the day, climbing 159.05 points or 0.8 percent to 19,859.77. The S&P 500 also rose 15.16 points or 0.3 percent to 6,090.27, but the Dow fell 123.19 points or 0.3 percent to 44,642.52.

The major averages also turned in a mixed performance for the first week of December. The Dow slid by 0.6 percent, while the S&P 500 jumped by 1.0 percent and the Nasdaq surged by 3.3 percent.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance on Monday. While Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index crept up by 0.2 percent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index spiked by 2.8 percent, South Korea’s Kospi plunged by 2.8 percent.

Meanwhile, European stocks have moved mostly higher on the day. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.6 percent and the French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.5 percent, although the German DAX Index is just below the unchanged line.

In commodities trading, crude oil futures are jumping $0.93 to $68.13 a barrel after slumping $1.10 to $67.20 a barrel last Friday. Meanwhile, after rising $11.20 to $2,659.60 an ounce in the previous session, gold futures are climbing $20.40 to $2,680 an ounce.

On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 150.78 yen versus the 150.03 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Friday. Against the euro, the dollar is trading at $1.0571 compared to last Friday’s $1.0568.

Business News