Stephen Wisnefski is the Executive Editor of News at Investopedia. He has more than two decades of experience as a journalist and newsroom leader, including 25 years at Dow Jones and The Wall Street Journal.
Stock futures were slightly lower Monday morning as investors prepare for a slew of retail sector earnings reports in the coming days and a major speech from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell at the end of the week.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down fractionally in recent trading, while those linked to the S&P 500 and Nasdaq slipped 0.1% and 0.2%, respectively. Stocks had a sluggish finish to last week as investor expectations for the Fed to cut interest rates moderated after worrisome wholesale inflation data. Nonetheless, the major indexes posted gains for the second straight week, and they enter the week hovering near record highs.
The big event of the week comes Friday, when Powell will speak at the Jackson Hole Symposium, an annual gathering of the world's central bankers. Investors will be looking for confirmation that the Fed could be on course to cut its benchmark lending rate at the next policy committee meeting in September. After the Fed decided last month to stand pat on rates, Powell said the Fed needed to see more data on how tariffs were affecting inflation before adjusting policy.
Meanwhile, earnings reports from major retailers -- Home Depot (HD), Lowe's (LOW), Walmart (WMT), Target (TGT) and TJ Maxx parent TJX (TJX) are among those scheduled to release results this week -- will provide investors with clues about the impact of tariffs and the state of consumer spending. Shares of Home Depot and Lowe's, were down slightly this morning, while Walmart, Target and TJX inched higher.
Bitcoin was at $115,200, down from an overnight high of around $118,000. The digital currency hit a record high of $124,500 on Thursday before falling sharply as market participants scaled back their expectations for a rate cut.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the performance of the dollar against a basket of foreign currencies, rose 0.2% to 98.03, after slipping to a three-week low on Friday.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which affects borrowing costs on all sorts of loans, was at 4.30% this morning, down from 4.33% at Friday's close. The yield traded as low as 4.20% last week before the disappointing inflation report.
West Texas Intermediate futures, the U.S. crude oil benchmark, rose 0.5% to $63.10, after hitting their lowest levels since early June late last week. Gold futures rose 0.3% to $3,395 an ounce.