Wall Street drifted modestly lower before the open on Monday as markets turn their attention this week to a trove of labor market data and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's appearance before Congress.
Futures for the S&P 500 slipped 0.1% before the bell and futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.3%.
Powell is making his semi-annual appearance before the House on Wednesday followed by testimony to the Senate on Thursday. Powell’s remarks will be closely watched for any signals of when the Fed may initiate a highly-anticipated round of interest rate cuts.
The Fed has hiked its main interest rate to the highest level since 2001 in a bid to corral surging inflation after the economy roared back from the COVID-19 recession of 2020.
The Fed may cut interest rates several times this year and has indicated it may take action if inflation continues to retreat toward its 2% target. Yet unexpectedly strong data on the economy recently has pushed back the consensus on when those cuts would be made from March, to June.
Some data the Fed might take into consideration at its meeting later this month will be Wednesday's job openings and labor turnover report and the more exhaustive February jobs report that is due Friday. In between those, on Thursday, the Labor Department releases its weekly count of jobless claims applications, which serve as a proxy for layoffs.
The strength of the labor market has been one of the reasons the Fed raised interest rates so rapidly and has kept them elevated.
In corporate news, Macy's shares jumped more than 15% before the opening bell after Arkhouse Management and Brigade Capital Management increased their offer to acquire the department store chain in a deal now valued at $6.6 billion.
The investment firms announced Sunday that they had submitted an all-cash proposal of $24 for each of the remaining shares in Macy’s they don’t already own — up from a earlier offer of $21 per share. Macy’s rejected the previous deal, which was valued at $5.8 billion, in January.
In crypto trading, Bitcoin continued its momentum, gaining more than 3% to $65,126.20. The original cryptocurrency is up nearly 50% this year.
In Europe at midday, Germany’s DAX edged 0.1% higher, the CAC 40 in Paris rose 0.2% and London’s FTSE 100 declined 0.6%.
In Asian trading, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 share index gained 0.5% to close above 40,000 for the first time at 40,109.23.
Shares in Japan have tracked gains in other markets driven by expectations for strong demand for technology associated with artificial intelligence. They have also been boosted by continued easy credit policies with the Bank of Japan pumping money into the economy to help support growth.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added less than 0.1% to 16,595.97 and the Shanghai Composite index rose 0.4% to 3,039.31.
This week the spotlight is mainly on China’s National People’s Congress, the country’s most important political event. It opens Tuesday, and investors are watching for updates on specific policies to help support the slowing economy, resolve troubles in the property market and stabilize financial markets.
Elsewhere in Asia, the Kospi in Seoul surged 1.2% to 2,674.27.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was down less than 0.1% at 7,735.80, and in Bangkok the SET was virtually unchanged.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury inched back up to 4.21% Monday from 4.18% late Friday.
U.S. benchmark crude oil gave back 34 cents to $79.63 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, the international standard, shed 27 cents to $83.28 per barrel.
The U.S. dollar rose to 150.43 Japanese yen from 150.08 yen. The euro was up to $1.0845 from $1.0841.
On Friday, the S&P 500 rose 0.8% to 5,137.08 a day after setting an all-time high. It’s been on a tremendous run and has climbed in 16 of the last 18 weeks because of excitement about cooling inflation and a mostly resilient U.S. economy.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.2% to 39,087.38. Technology stocks led the market, and the Nasdaq composite jumped 1.1% to 16,274.94, a day after surpassing its prior record set in 2021.
