US stock futures pointed to a slightly higher open Monday, as Wall Street braced for a week full of key economic data signals. Futures tied to the S&P 500 (ES=F) and the tech-heavy Nasdaq (NQ=F) both rose around 0.3%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures (YM=F) were up about 0.2%.
Wall Street is coming off a whipsaw week that has left markets jumpy and "on edge." Though the major indexes practically ended last week where they had started, it didn't come without volatility throughout the week.
Strategists say that is likely to continue — and this week comes with plenty of opportunities. Wednesday provides a fresh look at the state of inflation with the latest release of the Consumer Price Index. Then Thursday comes with two key signals on the state of the US consumer: a reading on July's retail sales and Walmart (WMT) earnings.
Wall Street once again sees good news as good news, so its volatility this week may depend on the signals those data introduce.
Either way, though, markets are seeing a slowing economy, which has shifted debate from whether the Federal Reserve should cut interest rates in September to how much they should cut them. A small majority of traders expects a 25-basis-point cut next month, while the balance — around 48% — see a bigger, 50-basis-point cut coming.