Futures U.S. stock markets rose Monday, suggesting major indices will begin the week on the front line as investors await data on the U.S. manufacturing and services sectors.
Futures tied to the S&P 500 rose 0.3% more, pointing to the broad market index that extended its 0.8% gain on Friday. Nasdaq-100 futures also rose 0.3%, indicating a modest increase in technology stocks after the opening bell.
Investors are focusing primarily on the Federal Reserve’s annual economic policy symposium later this week, awaiting new guidance on when policymakers can curb bond purchases. At the same time, growing concern about high levels of Covid-19 infection may slow the global economic recovery and caused stocks to drop last week. Dallas Fed Chairman Rob Kaplan said Friday he could rethink his call to start reducing asset purchases soon if the Delta variant weighs on growth.
“If there’s any sign that the U.S. economy is slowing, the Fed won’t shrink,” said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets. “There’s a long way to go between setting a path to volume reduction and actually doing it.”
In pre-market trade, the shares of companies that have passed through the road have declined after a California judge ruled that a measure intended to continue treating their drivers as independent contractors rather than as employees is unconstitutional. . Uber Technologies fell nearly 6% and Lyft fell more than 4%.