U.S. Market Futures Pointing Higher to Start the Week

U.S. stock futures are pointing higher in pre-market trading for Monday, July 18. The Dow Futures are up at 18431.0 for a gain of 14.00 points. The S&P 500 Futures are up at 2155.5 for a gain of 2.75 points. The Nasdaq Futures are higher at 4581.0 for a gain of 1.75 points. The Russell Futures are flat at 1201.0 for a loss of -1.00 point.

In overnight trading in the Eastern Hemisphere Japan’s Nikkei 225 is higher at 16497.85 for a gain of 111.96 points or 0.68 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is higher at 21803.18 for a gain of 143.93 points or 0.66 percent. China’s Shanghai Composite is lower at 3043.56 for a loss of -10.73 points or -0.35 percent. India’s S&P BSE Sensex is lower at 27746.66 for a loss of -89.84 points or -0.32 percent. In Europe, the FTSE 100 is higher at 6692.96 for a gain of 23.72 points or 0.36 percent. Germany’s DAX is lower at 10050.15 for a loss of -16.75 points or -0.17 percent. France’s CAC 40 is lower at 4356.09 for a loss of -16.42 points or -0.38 percent. The Stoxx Europe 600 is higher at 338.10 for a gain of 0.18 points or percent.

Monday’s Factors and Events

The U.S. market futures are pointing higher for continued gains in U.S. stocks Monday. The following economic reports are on the calendar for Monday: the Housing Market Index and the Treasury International Capital report. On Monday Treasury auctions are scheduled for the 3-month and the 6-month bill.

In pre-market trading, stocks trading actively include the following: Transocean Ltd., Chesapeake Energy, Seagate Technology, Yahoo! Inc., Diamond Offshore Drilling, Applied Materials, Delta Air Lines Inc., International Business Machines, Priceline Group Inc. and State Street Corp.

Earnings reports on the calendar for Monday include the following: Art’s-Way Manufacturing Co., Inc., Bank of America Corporation, Biomerieux 69 Marcy L’Etoile, Cal-Maine Foods, Inc., Hasbro, Inc., Lennox International Inc., Sandvik AB, BBCN Bancorp, Inc., Brown & Brown Insurance, Equity Lifestyle Properties, Inc., First Defiance Financial Corp., International Business Machines Corporation, IDEX Corporation, Netflix, Inc., Rambus, Inc., ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc., Steel Dynamics, Inc., VMware, Inc., Wilshire Bancorp, Inc. and Yahoo! Inc.

Friday’s Activity

On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average reported a new high. For the day the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 18516.55 for a gain of 10.14 points or 0.05 percent. The S&P 500 was lower for the day closing at 2161.74 for a loss of -2.01 points or -0.09 percent. The Nasdaq Composite also closed lower at 5029.59 for a loss of -4.47 point or -0.09 percent.

Other notable U.S. index closes included the small-cap Russell 2000, higher at 1205.31 for a gain of 3.14 points or 0.26 percent; the S&P 600 closing at 740.72 for a gain of 1.26 points or 0.17 percent; the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index closing at 1543.63 for a loss of -0.43 points or -0.03 percent; the S&P 100 closing at 955.92 for a loss of -0.71 points or -0.07 percent; the Russell 3000 closing at 1275.33 for a loss of -0.70 or -0.05 percent; the Russell 1000 closing at 1196.54 for a loss of -0.96 points or -0.08 percent; and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index closing at 625.84 for a gain of 1.98 points or 0.32 percent.