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Investing.com — U.S. stock futures largely edged lower Monday, at the start of a week that includes key U.S. inflation data as well as the start of the new quarterly earnings season.
By 06:50 ET (10:50 GMT), the contract was flat, traded 6 points, or 0.1%, lower and dropped 44 points, or 0.3%.
The three benchmark indices posted losing weeks last week, with the blue chip ending down 2%, the broad-based down 1.2% and the tech heavy dropping 0.9%.
Although Friday’s release showed a slowing of job creation in June from the prior month, the rest of the week’s labor market data pointed to an economy still strong enough to cope with more interest rate hikes.
June U.S. inflation data due
Confirmation of another hike by the is likely to come with the release of the June U.S. on Wednesday.
Although the headline figure is expected to cool to 3.1% annually, the slowest increase since March 2021, the reading, which is closely watched by Federal Reserve policymakers, is seen rising by 5.0% year-on-year and 0.3% monthly.
As it was with the labor market data last week, these numbers are anticipated to influence the thinking of Fed officials, who have made corralling elevated inflation a central objective of its recent year-long campaign of policy tightening.
Citi downgrades U.S. stocks
Sentiment was hit with the release earlier Monday of weak Chinese data, which fanned worries of a looming economic slowdown.
Citi equity strategists downgraded its stance on U.S. stocks to ‘neutral’ from ‘overweight’, following the strong gains year to date, saying “growth may be set for a pullback as AI euphoria enters a digestive phase. Recession risks remain elevated.”
Banks lead off second-quarter earnings season
Further clues about the likelihood of a recession could come with the second-quarter earnings reporting period, which kicks off this week, with the likes of JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:), Citigroup (NYSE:) and BlackRock (NYSE:) all scheduled to report on Friday.
Overall, earnings for the S&P 500 constituents are expected to fall 5.7% in the second quarter, Refintiv data showed.
Crude falls on Chinese growth concerns
Oil prices fell Monday after the Chinese inflation data increased concerns that the recovery of the world’s second-largest economy, and largest crude importer, was slowing.
By 06:50 ET, the futures traded 0.8% lower at $73.28 a barrel, while the contract dropped 0.7% to $77.94.
Both benchmarks gained more than 4% last week to touch their highest marks since May, boosted by the world’s biggest oil exporters Saudi Arabia and Russia announcing plans to deepen supply cuts in August.
Additionally, fell 0.2% to $1,929.55/oz, while traded 0.1% lower at 1.0958.
(Oliver Gray contributed to this item.)
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