Stock-index futures rose Monday, indicating a positive start for Wall Street after back-to-back weekly declines for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500.
What are major indexes doing?
-
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average
YM00,
+0.32%
rose 117 points, or 0.3%, to 34,270. -
S&P 500 futures
ES00,
+0.45%
were up 18.45 points, or 0.4%, at 4,170.25. -
Nasdaq-100 futures
NQ00,
+0.65%
gained 76 points, or 0.6%, to trade at 13,481.
The Dow
DJIA,
+0.36%
last week fell 0.5%, while the S&P 500
SPX,
-0.08%
gave up 0.4%, with both indexes suffering their second straight weekly fall. The Nasdaq Composite
COMP,
-0.48%
saw a rise of 0.3%, snapping a run of four consecutive weekly declines.
What’s driving the market?
Rising inflation pressures are getting the blame for heightened stock-market volatility after data earlier this month showed the consumer-price index rose a hotter-than-expected 4.2% year-over-year in April. That prompted fears the Fed could move earlier than anticipated to begin pulling back on its monetary policy accommodation.
Most Fed officials have maintained that it remains too early to begin contemplating the withdrawal of monetary support.
Meanwhile, stocks last week largely mirrored the price action of the previous week, slumping early before enjoying a late-week bounce, said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA.
“Since the market’s low on May 19 did not undercut the low from the prior week, however, it was viewed as a successful retest of that earlier low, indicating that the recent selloff had run its course and that a near-term rally was likely at hand,” Stovall said, in a note.
Talks continue around President Joe Biden’s infrastructure push. The White House on Friday trimmed the size of its proposal from $2.3 trillion to $1.7 trillion in an effort to win Republican support.
The effort failed to bear fruit with Senate Republicans so far, according to news reports, raising doubts about prospects for a deal before a Memorial Day target. Democrats could attempt to move on their own if the stalemate continues, using budget reconciliation procedures.
Volatility in the cryptocurrency markets also remain in focus. Bitcoin
BTCUSD,
+11.57%
extended a slump over the weekend to fall as much as 50% from its all-time high above $60,000 set earlier this week. Bitcoin was up around 10% in recent action.
Which companies are in focus?
-
Cabot Oil & Gas Corp.
COG,
+0.34%
and Cimarex Energy Co.
XEC,
-0.50%
said Monday that they reached an agreement on an all-stock merger of equals in a deal with an enterprise value of about $17 billion. Cabot shares rose 1.7% in premarket trade, while Cimarex shares were up 0.3%. -
Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc.
SPCE,
+6.36%
on Saturday completed its first rocket-powered flight from New Mexico to the fringe of space in a manned shuttle. Shares jumped 20%. -
Singular Genomics Systems Inc.
OMIC,
,
the California-based biotech that leverages next-generation sequencing (NGS) to build products for researchers, set terms of its initial public offering, in which it could be valued at up to $1.5 billion. The company is looking to raise up to $187 million, as it is offering 8.5 million shares at an IPO price of between $20 and $22 a share. The stock is expected to trade on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “OMIC.”
