US pre-open: Futures mixed as Biden's $1.0trn infrastructure bill remains in focus
Wall Street futures were mixed ahead of the bell on Monday amid renewed hopes for the passing of Joe Biden's $1.0trn bipartisan infrastructure deal.
As of 1230 BST, Dow Jones futures were trading 0.10% lower, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.03% and 0.24% higher, respectively.
The Dow Jones closed 237.02 points higher on Friday, while the S&P 500 notched its best week since February and a new record high.
In focus ahead of the bell on Monday was news that Joe Biden's huge, bipartisan infrastructure deal appeared to have been revitalised on Sunday after the President clarified that he had no intention of vetoing the legislation if it came without a separate reconciliation bill including funding for issues like climate change, child care, health care and education, as favoured by Democrats, leading Republican senators to then agree to push the deal through.
Markets.com's Neil Wilson said: "US futures are little changed after the S&P 500 notched a fresh record on Friday and enjoyed its best week since February. Core PCE inflation was a tad cooler than expected, giving investors the green light to give equities some bid despite the myriad risks on the horizon, including rising Covid cases in Asia. There is also a strong hope that President Biden's $1.0trn bipartisan infrastructure deal will be passed. Over the weekend the president himself rowed back on his earlier suggestion that a deal would be dependent on also passing the Democrats' tax plans, and that he could veto the infrastructure agreement.
"The next big risk event is Friday's jobs report for the US, which is expected to show employers added 700,000 jobs in June. The nonfarm payrolls report is central to the market’s expectations for Federal Reserve policy, since the labour market is still the most important consideration for officials as they seek to time the start of the tightening process. The US economy is still roughly 7.0m jobs short of where it was before the pandemic. It makes a big difference to the timing of tapering/tightening whether we see 700,000 or 350,000 each month. The last couple of prints have disappointed."
On the macro front, June's Dallas Fed manufacturing index will be published at 1530 BST, while Federal Reserve presidents John Williams and Randal Quarles will both deliver speeches throughout the course of the day.
In the corporate space, Caterpillar shares picked up steam in pre-market trading on the back of the news of the infrastructure bill agreement.