US pre-open: Futures in the green as August trading looks set for a positive start

Wall Street futures were in the green ahead of the bell on Monday as market participants strapped in for Augusts's first day of trading.

As of 1220 BST, Dow Jones futures were up 0.22%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures were 0.33% and 0.35% firmer, respectively.

The Dow closed 149.06 points lower on Friday, wrapping up a generally strong month for major indices on a somewhat sour note.

Concerns regarding the delta variant of Covid-19 were seemingly in the rearview before the open on Monday, with investors betting on reopening plays like Carnival and US airlines.

Also in focus, the US Senate will finalise text on Joe Biden's infrastructure bill, which includes $550.0bn in new spending over the next five years, which comes on top of previously approved funds of roughly $450.0bn.

AvaTrade's Naeem Aslam said: "The first trading day of August is starting with positive momentum; both European and US futures are trading higher today. European and US stock indices have scored stellar performance so far this year, and we have seen decent gains on a month-on-month basis.

"Most of these gains are purely due to the presence of the loose monetary policy. In addition to this, we also had ample support from fiscal policies as well."

In the corporate space, Lyft, Amgen, Uber, CVS Health, General Motors, Boku and Square will all report earnings on Monday.

On the macro front, IHS Markit's final manufacturing PMI for July will be posted at 1445 BST, with last month's ISM manufacturing PMI and June construction spending figures following at 1500 BST.