US pre-open: Futures lower as traders look ahead to inflation data

Wall Street futures were in the red ahead of the bell on Monday as 2024's solid start to the year came to a halt last week.

As of 1200 BST, Dow Jones futures were down 0.05%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.10% and 0.04% weaker, respectively.

The Dow closed 307.06 points higher on Friday after a stronger-than-expected jobs report left market participants hopeful that a strong US economy may remain supportive of corporate earnings growth.

Scope Markets' Joshua Mahony said: "Today represents the calm before the storm, with a largely empty economic calendar giving way to a week that sees US inflation, three monetary policy decisions, and the commencement of the third first quarter US earnings season. Coming off the back of a Friday session that brought as many questions as answers for markets, US indices look set for a slow start today. The impressive strength of the US jobs market may be good news for those hoping to see another set of strong earnings for Q1, yet we could be in for a rude awakening when the US CPI inflation gauge is reported on Wednesday."

No major data points were scheduled for release on Monday but traders were patiently awaiting the publication of March's consumer and producer price indexes, due out on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.

Investors also continued to navigate rising bond yields and oil prices, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note surging nearly 20 basis points last week to hit roughly 4.4% and US crude oil briefly touching $87.00 per barrel amid ongoing geopolitical tensions.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com