U.S. stock futures fell on Monday, following Friday’s mixed close. Futures of the major benchmark indices were lower.
This week, investors will be closely watching the Federal Reserve’s meeting to gauge how the central bank is navigating interest rates amid the ongoing U.S.-Iran conflict.
Simultaneously, market-moving earnings reports from the ‘Magnificent 7 tech giants—including Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META), and Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT)—will take center stage as Wall Street looks for returns on their massive AI investments.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump announced on Saturday that he canceled plans for envoys to meet with Iranian leadership in Pakistan, citing divisions within Tehran. Trump's declaration that the U.S. has "all the cards" sent immediate ripples through the energy markets.
Meanwhile, the 10-year Treasury bond yielded 4.32%, and the two-year bond was at 3.79%. The CME Group's FedWatch tool‘s projections show markets pricing a 100% likelihood of the Federal Reserve leaving the current interest rates unchanged in its Wednesday meeting.
| Index | Performance (+/-) |
| Dow Jones | -0.15% |
| S&P 500 | -0.12% |
| Nasdaq 100 | 0.043% |
| Russell 2000 | -0.08% |
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) and Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (NASDAQ:QQQ), which track the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100, respectively, were mixed in premarket on Monday. The SPY was down 0.083% at $713.35, while the QQQ surged 0.054% to $664.24.
Stocks In Focus
Cheetah Net Supply Chain Service
- Cheetah Net Supply Chain Service Inc. (NASDAQ:CTNT) dropped 22.12% in premarket on Monday after the company announced a 1-for-200 reverse stock split.
- Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that CTNT maintains a weak price trend in the short, medium, and long terms.
Organon
- Organon & Co. (NYSE:OGN) jumped 15.01% after it said on Sunday it signed a definitive agreement to be acquired by Sun Pharmaceutical Industries in an all-cash deal valued at $11.75 billion.
- Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that OGN maintains a strong trend in the long, short, and medium terms, with a poor growth ranking.
Celestica
- Celestica Inc. (NYSE:CLS) rose 0.68% as the Wall Street projects to report quarterly earnings of $2.07 per share on revenue of $3.95 billion, after the closing bell.
- Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that CLS maintains a strong price trend in the short, long, and medium terms with a good quality score.
Nucor
- Nucor Corp. (NYSE:NUE) was up 0.35% as the analysts expect it to report quarterly earnings of $2.82 per share on revenue of $8.88 billion, after the closing bell.
- Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that NUE maintains a strong price trend over the short, medium, and long terms, with a solid value score.
SAP
- SAP SE (NYSE:SAP) jumped 6.14% higher after the company, along with S3NS, accelerated trusted cloud adoption in France with Thales as the first strategic customer.
- Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that SAP maintains a weak price trend in the short, medium, and long terms, with a strong growth ranking.
Cues From Last Session
Information technology and consumer discretionary stocks finished the session higher on Friday, whereas most sectors across the S&P 500 ended negatively, with health care, industrials, and financial equities suffering the steepest declines.
| Index | Performance (+/-) | Value |
| Dow Jones | -0.16% | 49,230.71 |
| S&P 500 | 0.80% | 7,165.08 |
| Nasdaq Composite | 1.63% | 24,836.60 |
| Russell 2000 | 0.43% | 2,787.00 |
Insights From Analysts
Despite ongoing geopolitical tensions and the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, Ed Yardeni maintains a relatively optimistic outlook for the U.S. stock market.
He observes that historical oil supply shocks often serve as buying opportunities, a sentiment investors seem to be echoing today. To navigate the current uncertainty, Yardeni notes that many investors are adopting a barbell strategy.
He supports this approach, explicitly recommending a “market weight in IT and an overweight in Energy” to prepare for whether macroeconomic conditions go right (favoring IT) or wrong (favoring Energy).
Looking ahead, Yardeni’s base case anticipates the S&P 500 will chop around the 7,000 mark while the current U.S.-Iran stalemate persists. However, assuming a resolution by mid-year, he expects the market “grinds higher in the second half of this year toward our 7,700 year-end target.”
While he warns that the upcoming midterm election drama could make the ride bumpy, Yardeni remains confident that the worst is behind us, asserting that the March 30 low was the definitive bottom for the year.
Finally, he highlights certainty on the economic policy front, noting that Kevin Warsh is highly favored to become the next Federal Reserve chair.
Upcoming Economic Data
Here's what investors will be keeping an eye on this week.
- No data is scheduled to be released on Monday.
- On Tuesday, February’s S&P Case-Shiller home price index data for 20 cities will be released by 9:00 a.m., and April’s consumer confidence data will be out by 10:00 a.m. ET.
- On Wednesday, March’s durable-goods orders, durable-goods minus transportation, advanced U.S. trade balance in goods, advanced retail inventories, and advanced wholesale inventories data, along with February’s delayed housing starts and building permits data, and March’s housing starts and building permits data will all be released by 8:30 a.m. ET.
- The FOMC interest-rate decision will be released by 2:00 p.m., and Fed Chair Powell’s press conference will follow at 2:30 p.m. ET.
- On Thursday, initial jobless claims for the week ending April 25, the first quarter employment cost index, and GDP data, along with March’s personal income, personal spending, headline, and core PCE index data will all be released by 8:30 a.m. ET.
- April’s Chicago Business Barometer (PMI) will be released by 9:45 a.m., and February’s U.S. leading economic indicators data will be out by 10:00 a.m. ET.
- On Friday, April’s S&P U.S. manufacturing PMI will be released by 9:45 a.m., and April’s ISM manufacturing data will be out by 10:00 a.m. ET.
Commodities, Crypto, And Global Equity Markets
Crude oil futures were trading higher in the early New York session by 2.64% to hover around $96.89 per barrel.
Gold Spot US Dollar fell 0.02% to hover around $4,708.41 per ounce. Its last record high stood at $5,595.46 per ounce. The U.S. Dollar Index spot was 0.17% lower at the 98.3650 level.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) was trading 0.66% lower at $77,580.81 per coin, as per the last 24 hours.
Asian markets closed mixed on Monday as Hong Kong's Hang Seng and Australia's ASX 200 indices fell, whereas China’s CSI 300, India’s Nifty 50, South Korea's Kospi, and Japan's Nikkei 225 indices rose. European markets were also mixed in early trade.
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