Futures Pointing To Sharply Lower Open On Wall Street

Following the pullback seen during last Friday’s session, stocks are likely to see further downside in early trading on Monday. The major index futures are currently pointing to a sharply lower open for the markets, with the S&P 500 futures down by 2.1 percent.

A sell-off by technology stocks is likely to weigh on Wall Street, as AI darling and sector leader Nvidia (NVDA) is plummeting by 11.5 percent in pre-market trading.

The plunge by Nvidia comes after Chinese startup DeepSeek’s AI Assistant overtook rival ChatGPT to become the top-rated free application available on Apple’s App Store in the United States.

DeepSeek’s ascendance has doubt on Silicon Valley’s hefty AI capex spending and the sustainability of the U.S. technical edge in artificial intelligence.

Concerns about the outlook for interest rates may also generate selling pressure ahead of the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy meeting next week.

While the Fed is almost universally expected to leave interest rates unchanged, traders are likely to pay close attention to the accompanying statement for clues about the outlook for rates.

Recent economic data has led to concerns about the Fed leaving rates on hold for a prolonged period, but many economists still expect the central bank to resume cutting rates sometime in the first half of the year.

CME Group’s FedWatch Tool is currently indicating a 78.0 percent chance rates will be lower by at least a quarter point following the Fed’s June meeting.

After turning in a relatively lackluster performance early in the session, stocks moved mostly lower over the course of the trading day on Friday. The major averages all moved to the downside, with the S&P 500 giving back ground after reaching a new record intraday high.

The major averages climbed off their worst levels going into the close but remained in negative territory. The Dow fell 148.82 points or 0.3 percent to 44,424.25, the Nasdaq slid 99.38 points or 0.5 percent to 19,954.30 and the S&P 500 dipped 17.37 points or 0.3 percent to 6,101.24.

Despite the pullback on the day, the major averages still posted strong gains for the holiday-shortened week. While the Dow surged by 2.2 percent, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 both jumped by 1.7 percent.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance during trading on Monday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index slid by 0.9 percent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbed by 0.7 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets have all moved to the downside on the day. While the German DAX Index is down by 0.8 percent, the French CAC 40 Index is down by 0.5 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index is down by 0.2 percent.

In commodities trading, crude oil futures are falling $0.46 to $74.20 a barrel after inching up $0.04 to $74.66 a barrel last Friday. Meanwhile, after rising $13.90 to $2,778.90 an ounce in the previous session, gold futures are sliding $17 to $2,761.90 an ounce.

On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 154.25 yen versus the 155.98 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Friday. Against the euro, the dollar is trading at $1.0523 compared to last Friday’s $1.0497.

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