Futures Pointing To Modestly Higher Open On Wall Street

After ending last Friday’s trading narrowly mixed, stocks may move to the upside in early trading on Monday. The major index futures are currently pointing to a modestly higher open for the markets, with the S&P 500 futures up by 0.1 percent.

The markets may continue to benefit from recent upward momentum, which has contributed to a ten-day winning streak for the Dow.

The recent strength lifted all three major averages to their best levels in over a year last week, although the Nasdaq and S&P 500 have pulled back off their highs.

Overall trading activity is likely to remain subdued, however, as traders look ahead to the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy decision on Wednesday.

With the Fed widely expected to raise interest rates by another 25 basis point, traders are likely to pay close attention to the accompanying statement for clues about the outlook for rates.

Recent encouraging inflation data has led to optimism this week’s rate hike will be the last, and traders will be looking for confirmation from the Fed.

Following the mixed performance seen during Thursday’s session, stocks showed a lack of direction throughout much of the trading day on Friday. The major averages spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line.

The major averages eventually ended the day narrowly mixed. While the Nasdaq slipped 30.50 points or 0.2 percent to 14,032.81, the Dow inched up 2.51 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 35,227.69 and the S&P 500 crept up 1.47 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 4,536.34.

With the uptick, the Dow closed higher for the tenth straight session and surged 2.1 percent for the week. The S&P 500 also climbed by 0.7 percent for the week, while the Nasdaq fell by 0.6 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 jumped by 1.2 percent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index plunged by 2.1 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets have all moved to the downside on the day. While the German DAX Index has dipped by 0.1 percent, the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index is down by 0.3 percent and the French CAC 40 Index is down by 0.5 percent.

In commodities trading, crude oil futures are climbing $0.47 to $77.54 a barrel after surging $1.42 to $77.07 a barrel last Friday. Meanwhile, after slipping $4.30 to $1,966.60 an ounce in the previous session, gold futures are edging down $0.40 to $1,966.20 an ounce.

On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 141.04 yen versus the 141.73 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Friday. Against the euro, the dollar is trading at $1.1089 compared to last Friday’s $1.1124.