U.S. Stocks May See Early Weakness As Nvidia Slumps

(RTTNews) - Following the mixed performance seen last week, stocks may move to the downside in early trading on Monday. The major index futures are currently pointing to a lower open for the markets, with the S&P 500 futures down by 0.4 percent.

A notable decrease by shares of Nvidia (NVDA) may weigh on the markets, as the AI darling and market leader is slumping by 1.6 percent in pre-market trading.

The drop by Nvidia comes after a report from the Wall Street Journal said the chipmaker's plan to invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI to help train and run its latest artificial-intelligence models has stalled.

Citing people familiar with the matter, the WSJ said some inside Nvidia have expressed doubts about the deal.

Lingering trade tensions along with renewed uncertainty over U.S. monetary policy has also led to signs of risk aversion among investors.

Overall trading activity may be somewhat subdued, however, as traders look ahead to the release of the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report on Friday.

The report, which is expected to show employment climbed by 70,000 jobs in January after rising by 50,000 jobs in December, could impact the outlook for interest rates.

Shortly after the start of trading, the Institute for Supply Management is scheduled to release its report on manufacturing activity in the month of January.

The ISM's manufacturing PMI is expected to inch up to 48.5 in January after slipping to 47.9 in December, although a reading below 50 would still indicate contraction.

Stocks fluctuated over the course of the trading session on Friday but maintained a negative bias throughout the day before eventually closing mostly lower.

After recovering from an early sell-off to end Thursday's session mixed, the major averages all finished the day firmly in negative territory.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq led the way lower, slumping 223.30 points or 0.9 percent to 23,461.82, while the Dow slid 179.09 points or 0.4 percent to 48,892.47 and the S&P 500 fell 29.98 points or 0.4 percent to 6,939.03.

Meanwhile, the major averages turned in a mixed performance for the week. While the S&P 500 rose by 0.3 percent, the Nasdaq dipped by 0.2 percent and the Dow decreased by 0.4 percent.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower during trading on Monday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index slumped by 1.3 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index tumbled by 2.5 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets have moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index is up by 0.7 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the French CAC 40 Index are both up by 0.6 percent.

In commodities trading, crude oil futures are plunging $3.39 to $61.82 a barrel after slipping $0.21 to $65.21 a barrel last Friday. Meanwhile, after plummeting $609,70 to $4,745.10 an ounce in the previous session, gold futures are rising $17.90 to $4,763 an ounce.

On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 155.25 yen versus the 154.76 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Friday. Against the euro, the dollar is trading at $1.1822 compared to last Friday's $1.1848.