TGT Target Corp

By Donato Paolo Mancini 

Global stocks softened Monday ahead of economic figures and a policy statement from the Federal Reserve this week that could help investors to confirm or dispel recent fears of a global slowdown.

U.S. futures pointed to opening losses of 0.1% for both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500.

In individual equities, shares in Occidental Petroleum Corp. shed 2.3% in premarket trading, after Anadarko Petroleum Corp. determined Occidental's $38 billion offer could result in a proposal superior to Chevron's $33 billion bid. Target Corp. gained 3% after an upgrade from Barclays. Walt Disney Co. added 2% after "Avengers: Endgame" broke box-office opening-weekend records.

In Europe, the pan-continental Stoxx Europe 600 shed 0.3% in midmorning trading.

Spain's IBEX 35 benchmark slid 0.7% after the general election on Sunday produced no clear winner. The center-left Socialists of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez finished first, but will have to build an unwieldy coalition to form a governing majority. Mr. Sanchez signaled he would begin negotiations to form a pro-EU government. The euro gained less than 0.1% against the dollar at $1.1152.

In Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 1%. Tokyo's Nikkei was closed for a public holiday.

U.S. futures pointed to opening losses of 0.1% for both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500.

Last week, U.S. stocks reached all-time highs after stronger-than-expected earnings dispelled fears around the global economy. U.S. personal income and spending data are expected later Monday. Earnings figures from Google owner Alphabet Inc. are expected after the close.

A number of earnings results and key data are expected this week from the U.S., China and the EU, including a statement from the U.S. central bank and GDP estimates for Europe. Trade talks between the U.S. and China are also set to continue, with U.S. representatives set to travel to Beijing on Tuesday.

It is widely expected the Fed will keep policy unchanged later this week, as it weighs stronger-than-expected growth versus muted inflation.

"We are pricing in one rate cut before the end of the year. There's no recession signal. It has never happened in history," said Zhiwei Ren, managing director and portfolio manager at Penn Mutual Asset Management. "We've never seen this kind of divergence between how good the economy is and how worried the Fed is about the Japanese scenario, to get out of the deflationary mind-set."

"Macro data later this week from Europe and China could bring additional evidence that recession fears in the first quarter were overdone," said Carsten Brzeski, a senior economist at ING in Germany.

The WSJ Dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of 16 of its peers, added less than 0.1%. Yields on 10-year U.S. Treasurys edged down to 2.504%, from 2.506% on Friday. Yields move inversely to prices.

In commodities, Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, shed 0.3% to $71.93 a barrel. Gold slid 0.4% to $1,283.60 an ounce.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 29, 2019 09:00 ET (13:00 GMT)

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