US stock futures mixed; uncertainty over Fed's rate cutting plans

Investing.com -- U.S. stock futures traded in a muted fashion Monday, starting a holiday-shortened week in a cautious fashion as investors awaited more economic data as well as comments from a number of Federal Reserve officials for clues of future monetary policy.

By 06:20 ET (10:20 GMT), the Dow Futures contract was down 137 points, or 0.4%, S&P 500 Futures traded 8 points, or 0.2%, lower, while Nasdaq 100 Futures rose 16 points, or 0.1%.

The markets are closed on Wednesday for the Juneteenth holiday, and come off a mixed week, with the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average posting its third losing week in four, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq notched their seventh up week in the last eight, buoyed by the recent rally in tech.

Uncertainty over Fed moves

The divergence of the performances of the main indices is an indication of the uncertainty over where the stock markets go next, which is largely based on investors being unsure when the Federal Reserve will start its rate-cutting cycle.

The main economic release this week will be Tuesday’s retail sales for May, as investors try to get a handle on the strength of the U.S. economy, and thus the likely timing of Fed rate cuts.

Economists are expecting retail sales to have risen 0.3% month-on-month, after the figure came in at 0.0% in April.

There are several Fed officials due to speak this week, including New York Fed President John Williams, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari, San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly and Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin.

Kashkari on Sunday said, in an interview on CBS, it's a "reasonable prediction" that the U.S. central bank will cut interest rates once this year, waiting until December to do it.

Activist investor targets Autodesk

In the corporate sector, the likes of Lennar (NYSE:LEN), Kroger (NYSE:KR), Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) and CarMax (NYSE:KMX) will report quarterly earnings this week.

Elsewhere, Autodesk (NASDAQ:ADSK) will be in the spotlight after the Wall Street Journal reported that activist investor Starboard Value has acquired a stake worth approximately $500 million in the design-software manufacturer, and is now advocating for changes.

Video game retailer, and meme favorite, GameStop (NYSE:GME) holds its annual meeting later Monday, after being postponed last week due to a technical glitch resulting from high demand from shareholders.

Crude slips on demand worries

Oil prices edged lower Monday, as disappointing industrial production data out of China raised concerns about a slowdown in global demand.

At 06:20 ET, Brent oil futures had fallen 0.2% to $82.45 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate crude futures dipped 0.2% to $77.89 per barrel.

The lower-than-predicted Chinese industrial production figures in May, released over the weekend, pointed to an uneven recovery in the world's biggest oil importer.

This followed data on Friday showing U.S. consumer sentiment slumped to a seven-month low in June, as households continued to fret about elevated inflation and high borrowing costs.

This article first appeared in Investing.com