Wall Street was setting up for a slightly weaker start on
Monday, as investors continued to grapple with what last week's
disappointing jobs data means for the Federal Reserve's plans to
wind down its economic stimulus. The Federal budget is the only
data due for release.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 27 points, or
0.2%, to 16354, while those for the Standard & Poor's 500 index
eased 5.1 points to 1832.60. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index fell
10.25 points, or 0.3%, to 3551.25.
At 2 p.m. EST comes the Federal budget for December, but ahead
it's a busy week for data, with retail sales and inflation set to
be the top watched among investors.
Investors may spend much of the session and the week looking
back after the Labor Department reported on Friday that December
saw the slowest monthly pace of jobs growth in three years. Wall
Street stocks finished mostly higher on Friday, erasing losses that
came early on with the jobs data.
"This either suggests that investors aren't concerned about the
rate of asset purchases any more, or that they don't think these
numbers change anything, in respect to future tapering," said Craig
Erlam, market analyst at Alpari U.K., in a note of the market's
gains on Friday.
European and Asian stocks rose on Monday. Mr. Erlam said markets
seem to be "still stuck in a very unusual environment in which
investors can't decide what is actually more beneficial for the
stock markets, positive fundamentals or more quantitative
easing."
Earnings will provide some distraction for investors this week,
with big bank names such as J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) and
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) scheduled to report.
Within other markets, gold and oil prices were lower, while the
dollar pushed higher.
Write to Barbara Kollmeyer at BKollmeyer@marketwatch.com
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