Investing.com – U.S. futures pointed to a lower open on Monday as investors remain on edge over the tax reform bill.
The S&P 500 futures fell half a point or 0.03% as of 6:53 AM ET (11:53 AM GMT) while Dow futures slipped four and a half points or 0.02%. Meanwhile tech heavy Nasdaq 100 futures decreased two and a half points or 0.04%.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Friday that he foresaw the tax reform bill being sent to President Donald Trump by the end of 2017, but concerns remain about what whether the bill will be finalized. The House passed its version of the tax bill on Thursday and now has to go through the Senate.
Among the biggest movers before the morning bell were banking firm Barclays (LON:BARC) PLC ADR (NYSE:BCS), which rose 1.43% and Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba (NYSE:BABA), which increased 1.11%. Oil firm BP (LON:BP) PLC was up 0.41% after it declared a $0.10 dividend.
Meanwhile social media firm Snap Inc (NYSE:SNAP) slumped 1.00% and pharmaceutical firm Teva Pharma Industries Ltd ADR (NYSE:TEVA) was down 1.19%. Financial services firm ING Group NV ADR (NYSE:ING) fell 0.61% while Chinese electronic retailer Qudian Inc (NYSE:QD) decreased 1.89%.
Stocks in Europe recovered after dipping earlier on Monday when Germany failed to form a three-way government coalition. Germany’s DAX rose 41 points or 0.31% while in France the CAC 40 increased 19 points or 0.36% and in London, the FTSE 100 inched forward 11 points or 0.16%. Meanwhile the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 rose ten and a half points or 0.30% while Spain’s IBEX 35 was up 36 points or 0.37%.
In commodities, gold futures fell 0.37% to $1,291.71 a troy ounce while crude oil futures slumped 0.58% to $56.38 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, inched forward 0.02% to 93.63.