Following the strong upward move seen last week, stocks may give back ground in early trading on Monday. The major index futures are currently pointing to a lower open for the markets, with the Dow futures down by 277 points.
Profit taking may contribute to initial weakness on Wall Street after the major averages climbed to new record closing highs last Friday.
Traders may look to cash in on recent gains amid concerns the markets have risen too much considering the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Concerns about developments in Washington may also weigh on stocks as Democrats prepare another attempt to remove President Donald Trump from office.
House Democrats are preparing to once again impeach Trump even though the president has less than two weeks left in his term.
After the siege of the U.S. Capitol building by Trump supporters last week, Democrats are concerned about additional incitement by the president in his final days in office.
The markets have recently shrugged off the turmoil in Washington amid optimism about more stimulus under President-elect Joe Biden.
Biden pledged last Friday that we will pursue another stimulus package "in the trillions of dollars" due to the economic impact of the ongoing pandemic.
Stocks fluctuated over the course of the trading session on Friday but managed to end the day mostly higher. With the upward move on the day, the major averages all finished the session at new record closing highs.
The major averages all closed in positive territory, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq showing a notable advance. While the Nasdaq jumped 134.50 points or 1 percent to 13,201.98, the Dow rose 56.84 points or 0.2 percent to 31,097.97 and the S&P 500 climbed 20.89 points or 0.6 percent to 3,824.68.
For the first trading week of the New Year, the Nasdaq surged up by 2.4 percent, while the S&P 500 and the Dow jumped by 1.6 percent and 1.8 percent, respectively.
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower during trading on Monday. China's Shanghai Composite Index slumped by 1.1 percent, while South Korea's Kospi edged down by 0.1 percent.
The major European markets have also moved to the downside on the day. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index are all down by 0.9 percent.
In commodities trading, crude oil futures are falling $0.46 to $51.78 a barrel after jumping $1.41 to $52.54 a barrel last Friday. Meanwhile, after plummeting $78.20 to $1,835.40 an ounce in the previous session, gold futures are slipping $1.40 to $1,834 an ounce.
On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 104.28 yen versus the 103.94 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Friday. Against the euro, the dollar is trading at $1.2152 compared to last Friday's $1.2218.
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