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Market Snapshot

Dow futures edge lower after stocks end at records

Angela Weiss/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

Stock-index futures wobbled Monday, signaling a modest pullback after the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 ended last week at all-time highs.

What are major indexes doing?
  • Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average YM00 fell 87 points, or 0.3%, to 33,994.
  • S&P 500 futures ES00 were off 10.55 points, or 0.3%, at 4,165.75.
  • Nasdaq-100 futures NQ00 declined 38 points, or 0.3%, to 13,991.50.

The Dow DJIA and S&P 500 SPX closed at records on Friday, while the Nasdaq Composite COMP booked its second-highest finish of all time. For the week, the Dow rose 1.2%, while the S&P 500 gained 1.4% and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.1%. It was the fourth straight weekly rise for the Dow and S&P 500, while the Nasdaq booked its third consecutive weekly gain.

What’s driving the market?

Stocks received a lift last week as earnings season got under way with solid results from big banks and as investors digested strong economic data.

Read: Stocks are at all-time highs and the U.S. economy is booming. So why is everyone so freaked out?

While stocks may be set to pause their advance Monday, analysts said the tone remained positive amid a lack of any major negative catalysts.

“Overall, it looks like clear skies for equity markets. Policy makers are still holding investors by the hand and vaccination programs have accelerated dramatically,” said Marios Hadjikyriacos, investment analyst at XM, in a note.

Half of all adults in the U.S. have received at least one COVID-19 shot, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Sunday, as the vaccination campaign hit another milestone.

“The only real risks on the radar are excess inflation that leads the Fed to shift gears abruptly, some new vaccine-resistant variant, or the geopolitical temperature rising further in critical theaters like Ukraine or Taiwan,” Hadjikyriacos said.

Investors continue to watch the debate around President Joe Biden’s infrastructure plan, including his call to raise the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%. Axios reported Sunday that resistance among Senate Democrats was likely to limit a rise in the tax rate to 25%, which would raise $600 billion over 15 years and come in well short of offsetting the price tag of the eight-year $2.25 trillion package.

Investors are gearing up for a busy week of earnings, with 81 S&P 500 companies, including 10 components of the Dow, set to deliver results.

Which companies are in focus
  • Dow component Coca-Cola Co. KO reported earnings and revenues Monday that topped Wall Street forecasts. Shares were up 0.8% in premarket trade.
  • GameStop Corp. GME shares surged in premarket trade after the videogame retailer said Chief Executive George Sherman will step down no later than July 31, after two years in the role.
  • Shares of electric car maker Tesla Inc. TSLA were down 1.8%. Two men died after a Tesla vehicle that authorities said was believed to be operating without anyone in the driver’s seat crashed into a tree Saturday night north of Houston.
  • Harley-Davidson Inc. HOG shares surged more than 8% in premarket action after the motorcycle maker roared past first-quarter earnings forecasts. Separately, the company said it had received notification it would be subject to a 56% tariff on European Union imports. Harley-Davidson said it would launch an immediate legal challenge.
  • Herman Miller Inc.  MLHR and Knoll Inc.  KNL announced an agreement Monday to combine in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $1.8 billion that will create a leader in modern design for the home and office. Knoll shareholders would receive $11 in cash and 0.32 shares of Herman Miller for each share owned, equal to a premium of 45% over Knoll’s closing price on Friday. Herman Miller shares fell more than 12% in premarket action, while Knoll shares jumped more than 28%.
  • Peloton Interactive Inc. PTON said Monday that a recent warning to consumers from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to stop using its Tread+ product was “inaccurate and misleading.” The CPSC said over the weekend issued an “urgent warning” about the Tread+ machines after multiple reports of small children and pets being injured beneath the machines, including one death. Peloton shares were down 6.8% in premarket trade.
How are other assets faring?
  • The 10-year Treasury note yield BX:TMUBMUSD10Y was trading at 1.580%, near where it finished at the end of last week. Bond prices move inversely to yields.
  • Gold futures GC00 were up 0.2% to $1,783.20 on Comex. Meanwhile, U.S. benchmark crude futures CL fell 0.3% to $62.94 a barrel.
  • The Japanese Nikkei JP:NIK finished flat on Monday. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 UK:UKX and STOXX Europe 600 XX:SXXP were both heading for slight gains.
  • The U.S. dollar tumbled 0.5% against its major rivals, based on trading in the ICE U.S. Dollar Index DXY.

  • Bitcoin BTCUSD was up 1.5% near $57,076 after a volatile weekend that saw the cryptocurrency trade as low as $51,907 Sunday, down around 20% from a recent peak of $64,829.14, according to Coindesk.

Need to Know: Forget bitcoin’s weekend slump: Watch these 2 key levels for what happens next, strategist says