Investing.com – Wall Street futures pointed to a higher open on Monday, as buying enthusiasm remained supported after the Dow ended last week with a string of 8 consecutive record closing highs on the back of a strong monthly employment report that continued to show a strong U.S. labor market.
The blue-chip Dow futures added 34 points, or 0.16%, at 6:59AM ET (10:59GMT), the S&P 500 futures advanced 3 points, or 0.11%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures gained 7 points, or 0.12%.
After last week’s jobs report, the economic calendar will give investors a break on Monday with a string of lesser releases such at the Conference Board’s employment trends index, the Federal Reserve (Fed) labor market conditions index or consumer credit.
Following the strong labor market data, the focus this week will shift to inflation with the publication of both the producer price index (PPI) and the consumer price index (CPI) on Thursday and Friday, respectively.
Stronger inflation data would be a key ingredient in order for markets to realign their outlook to fit with the Fed’s own view that it will hike rates in December. Fed fund futures put the odds of a year-end increase at just around 50%.
In that light, market players will pay close attention to Fed speakers on the docket later on Monday.
St. Louis Fed president James Bullard will speak on the U.S economy and monetary policy at 11:45AM ET (15:45GMT), while Minneapolis Fed chief Neel Kashkari was scheduled to participate in a moderated question & answer session at 1:25PM ET (17:25GMT).
While waiting for the next batch of references, the dollar saw some profit-taking after registering its biggest one-day gain this year on the back of the strong jobs report.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, slipped 0.09% to 93.29 by 7:00AM ET (11:00GMT).
On the company front, German healthcare firm Fresenius Medical Care KGAA ST (DE:FMEG) agreed to buy NxStage Medical (NASDAQ:NXTM), a U.S. maker of home dialysis devices, for approximately $2 billion in cash.
As the earnings season begins to wind down, a handful of firms such as CBS (NYSE:CBS), Marriott International Inc (NASDAQ:MAR), Avis Budget (NASDAQ:CAR), Tyson Foods (NYSE:TSN), LendingClub (NYSE:LC) or First Data Corp (NYSE:FDC) will release results on Monday.
Struggling retailers, such as Macy's (NYSE:M), Nordstrom (NYSE:JWN), Kohl’s (NYSE:KSS) and JC Penney (NYSE:JCP), will likely be the main focus on the earnings front near the end of the week.
Media companies, like Disney (NYSE:DIS) and News Corp (NASDAQ:NWSA), as well as some recent IPOs, including Snap (NYSE:SNAP) and Blue Apron (NYSE:APRN), will also garner some attention.
Meanwhile, oil prices sank around 1% on Monday, as market players looked ahead to a highly-anticipated meeting of some oil ministers from OPEC and non-OPEC producers to assess how the group can increase compliance with production cuts that began at the start of the year.
The two-day gathering that begins later in the day in Abu Dhabi will discuss members’ compliance levels to the agreed-upon global production limits that run through March 2018.
U.S. crude futures fell 0.99% to $49.09 by 7:01AM ET (11:01GMT), while Brent oil lost 1.05% to $51.87.
Investors were also keeping an eye on geopolitical developments surrounding North Korea.
The U.N. Security Council unanimously imposed new sanctions on North Korea on Saturday aimed at pressuring the hermit state to end its controversial nuclear program. The sanctions could slash North Korea's $3 billion annual export revenue by a third.
North Korea denounced the latest sanctions, saying they infringe on its sovereignty and vowed to take "righteous action", the North's official news agency said.
Elsewhere, global stocks breached new record highs on Monday as better-than-expected earnings and the positive U.S. economic data boosted sentiment.
Of the nearly 1000 companies in the MSCI world index that have reported, 67% have beaten expectations, according to Reuters’ data.
Asian bourses were higher across the board on Monday, gaining about 0.5% each.
European equities showed mixed signs. Germany’s DAX was off around 0.5%, under pressure from the fact that the country’s industrial production unexpectedly declined for the first time this year.