U.S. Index Futures Dip Ahead of Inflation Data and Oracle’s Earnings; Oil Prices Edge Higher

In Monday’s pre-market trading, U.S. index futures are indicating a downward move, following the worst week for the Dow Jones since October. Investors are keeping an eye on the important inflation data expected this week and the financial results from Oracle, which will be announced after today’s market close.

At 06:15 AM, Dow Jones futures (DOWI:DJI) dropped 132 points, or 0.34%. S&P 500 futures fell by 0.17%, and Nasdaq-100 futures declined by 0.12%. The yield on 10-year Treasury notes was at 4.075%.

In the commodities market, West Texas Intermediate crude oil for April rose by 0.32%, to $78.23 per barrel. Brent crude for May went up by 0.32%, near $82.34 per barrel. Iron ore traded on the Dalian exchange fell by 5.41%, to $115.65 per metric ton.

Bitcoin (COIN:BTCUSD) reached a new peak, surpassing $71,000 on Monday, driven by the influx of investments into new bitcoin funds and expectations of interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.

Asian and Pacific exchanges closed mixed, with gains in China after easing deflation concerns due to recent inflation data. In contrast, Tokyo recorded significant losses, influenced by the revision of Japanese GDP, which increased expectations of a possible change in BoJ’s monetary policy, reflecting in the mixed performance of the markets in the region. Shanghai SE in China closed with a gain of +0.74%, the Nikkei in Japan showed a decrease of -2.19%, the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong went up by +1.43%, the Kospi in South Korea had a reduction of -0.77%, and the ASX 200 in Australia ended with a decrease of -1.82%.

European markets are down, following the losses in Asia-Pacific overnight, in anticipation of upcoming U.S. inflation data during the week. At the start of operations, the Stoxx 600 registered a drop of 0.4%, with the technology sector suffering a reduction of over 2%.

On Friday, U.S. stocks started high but fell throughout the day, affected by negative revisions in job growth and an increase in the unemployment rate. The initial optimism, fueled by a strong jobs report, dissipated, leading to profit-taking, especially in the Nasdaq and S&P 500. The expectation of interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve, based on mixed economic data, also influenced the market. With the drop on the day, the Nasdaq, Dow, and S&P 500 closed with weekly declines of 1.2%, 0.9%, and 0.3%, respectively.

In terms of quarterly earnings, financial reports are scheduled to be presented before market open from Ballard (NASDAQ:BLDP), Fortrea, Eltek (NASDAQ:ELTK), SilverCrest Metals (NYSE:SILV), Legend Biotech (NASDAQ:LEGN), Endeavour Silver Corporation (NYSE:EXK), among others.

After the close, the numbers from Oracle (NYSE:ORCL), Asana (NYSE:ASAN), Casey’s (NASDAQ:CASY), Vail Resorts (NYSE:MTN), Ocular Therapeutix (NASDAQ:OCUL), LifeMD (NASDAQ:LFMD), Mission Produce (NASDAQ:AVO), Assertio Holdings (NASDAQ:ASRT), CytomX Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CTMX), Playstudios (NASDAQ:MYPS), and more are awaited.