Futures Pointing To Modestly Higher Open On Wall Street

(RTTNews) - Stocks may move to the upside in early trading on Monday, adding to the strong gains posted last week. The major index futures are currently pointing to a modestly higher open for the markets, with the S&P 500 futures up by 0.3 percent.

Early buying interest may be generated in reaction to positive comments from President Donald Trump about trade talks between top U.S. and Chinese officials in Europe.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said that the talks have "gone VERY WELL!" adding that a "deal was also reached on a "certain" company that young people in our Country very much wanted to save," likely referring to Chinese-owned social media platform TikTok.

Trump also said that he will be speaking with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday and described the relationship as "a very strong one."

However, traders may be reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement on Wednesday.

With recent data showing relatively subdued inflation and a weakening labor market, the Fed is widely expected to lower interest rates by at least a quarter point.

CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating a 96.4 percent chance the Fed will cut rates by 25 basis points and a slim 3.6 percent chance of a half-point rate cut.

Traders are likely to pay close attention to the Fed's accompanying statement as well as Fed Chair Jerome Powell's post-meeting comments for clues about the likelihood of further rate cuts.

Currently, the Fed is widely expected to lower rates by another 25 basis points at both its October and December meetings, although Powell is likely to say future rate cuts will depend on incoming economic data.

After moving in opposite directions early in the session, the major U.S. stocks indexes continued to turn in a mixed performance throughout the trading day on Friday. While the tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed to a new record closing high, the Dow moved back to the downside.

The Nasdaq ended the session off its best levels of the day but still closed up 98.03 points or 0.4 percent at 22,141.10. The Dow, on the other hand, slid 273.78 points or 0.6 percent to 45,834.22 and the S&P 500 edged down 3.18 points or 0.1 percent to 6,584.29.

Despite the mixed performance on the day, the major averages all posted strong gains for the week. The Nasdaq surged by 2.0 percent, the S&P 500 shot up by 1.6 percent and the Dow jumped by 1.0 percent.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance during trading on Monday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index advanced by 0.9 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index fell by 0.3 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets have all moved to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index is up by 1.3 percent, the German DAX Index is up by 0.5 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.1 percent.

In commodities trading, crude oil futures are increasing $0.31 to $63 a barrel after rising $0.32 to $62.69 a barrel last Friday. Meanwhile, after climbing $12.80 to $3,686.50 an ounce in the previous session, gold futures are edging down $6.50 to $3,679.90 an ounce.

On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 147.26 yen versus the 147.68 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Friday. Against the euro, the dollar is trading at $1.1767 compared to last Friday's $1.1734.