Futures Pointing To Modestly Higher Open On Wall Street

(RTTNews) - Following the lackluster performance seen during last Friday's session, stocks are likely to move to the upside in early trading on Monday. The major index futures are currently pointing to a modestly higher open for the markets, with the S&P 500 futures up by 0.2 percent.

The upward momentum on Wall Street may reflect optimism about potential trade deals, with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick saying he is confident the U.S. will reach an agreement with the European Union.

"These are the two biggest trading partners in the world, talking to each other. We'll get a deal done," Lutnick said in an interview with CBS News over the weekend. "I am confident we'll get a deal done."

However, Lutnick also described August 1st as a "hard deadline" for new "reciprocal tariffs" on U.S. trade partners to take effect.

"Nothing stops countries from talking to us after August 1st, but they're going to start paying the tariffs on August 1st," he said.

Traders are also looking ahead of the release of earnings news from several big-name companies this week, including Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL), Tesla (TSLA) and Intel (INTC).

Shortly after the start of trading, the Conference Board is scheduled to release its report on leading economic indicators in the month of Jun. The leading economic index is expected to dip by 0.2 percent in June after edging down by 0.1 percent in May.

Stocks showed a lack of direction over the course of the trading session on Friday, with the major averages bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line after failing to sustain an initial move to the upside.

The major averages eventually ended the day narrowly mixed. While the Nasdaq inched up 10.01 points or 0.1 percent to a new record closing high of 20,895.66, the S&P 500 edged down 0.57 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 6,296.79 and the Dow fell 142.30 points or 0.3 percent to 44,342.19.

For the week, the Nasdaq jumped by 1.5 percent and the S&P 500 climbed by 0.6 percent, but the Dow slipped by 0.1 percent.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance on Monday, with Japanese markets closed for a holiday. China's Shanghai Composite Index climbed by 0.7 percent, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index slumped by 1.0 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets have all moved to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index is down by 0.4 percent, the German DAX Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index are both down by 0.1 percent.

In commodities trading, crude oil futures are edging down $0.06 to $67.28 a barrel after slipping $0.20 to $67.34 a barrel last Friday. Meanwhile, after rising $13 to $3,358.30 an ounce in the previous session, gold futures are jumping $32.70 to $3,391 an ounce.

On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 147.35 yen versus the 148.81 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Friday. Against the euro, the dollar is trading at $1.1665 compared to last Friday's $1.1626.