U.S. stock futures are just slightly lower in pre-market trading for Monday, July 25. The Dow Futures are flat at 18478.0. The S&P 500 Futures are also flat at 2167.5. The Nasdaq Futures are lower at 4654.25 for a loss of -3.00 points. The Russell Futures are lower at 1208.2 for a loss of -1.70 points.

In overnight trading in the Eastern Hemisphere Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed at 16620.29 for a loss of -6.96 points or -0.04 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was higher at 21993.44 for a gain of 29.17 points or 0.13 percent. China’s Shanghai Composite was higher at 3015.83 for a gain of 3.01 points or 0.10 percent. India’s S&P BSE Sensex was higher at 28095.34 for a gain of 292.10 or 1.05 percent. In Europe the FTSE 100 was lower at 6725.98 for a loss of -4.50 points or -0.07 percent. Germany’s DAX was higher at 10237.31 for a gain of 89.85 points or 0.89 percent. France’s CAC 40 was higher at 4408.74 for a gain of 27.64 points or 0.63 percent. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index was higher at 342.12 for a gain of 1.79 points or 0.53 percent.

Monday’s Factors and Events

Stocks appear likely to open flat on Monday. The economic calendar is light with only the Dallas Fed Manufacturing Survey being reported on Monday. Treasury auctions will also occur for the 3-Month Bill, 6-Month Bill and 2-Yr Note.

Stocks active in pre-market trading for the day include Hewlett Packard Enterprises, American Airlines, Yahoo! Inc., Berkshire Hathaway, Amazon.com, Express Scripts, CVS Health, Newmont Mining, Apple and General Electric.

This week the FOMC will meet on Tuesday and Wednesday with a FOMC Meeting Announcement

Earnings for the day include the following: Bank Of Marin Bancorp, Capital Power Corp., Fibria Celulose S.A., Petra Diamonds, PetMed Express, Inc. , Randstad Holdings NV, Alacer Gold Corp., AvalonBay Communities, Inc., Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc., Celanese Corporation, Canadian National Railway Company, CNX Coal Resources, CenterState Banks, Inc., Electronics for Imaging, Inc., Frequency Electronics, Inc., GigOptix, Inc., HomeStreet, Inc., Heartland Financial USA, Inc., Independent Bank Group, Prairiesky Royalty Ltd., Sanmina Corp., Superior Energy Services, Inc., Texas Instruments Inc. and Washington Trust Bancorp, Inc.

Yahoo will be in the spotlight Monday after deciding on a deal with Verizon. Verizon will pay $4.8 billion for the company.

Stocks are likely to continue reaching for new highs this week however anticipation of the Fed’s July Federal Open Market Committee meeting and statement on Wednesday will be affecting stock trading.

Friday’s Activity

On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 18570.85 for a gain of 53.62 points or 0.29 percent. The S&P 500 was also higher, closing at 2175.03 for a gain of 9.86 points or 0.46 percent. The Nasdaq Composite closed higher at 5100.16 for a gain of 26.26 points or 0.52 percent.

Other notable index closes included the small-cap Russell 2000, closing at 1212.89 for a gain of 9.03 points or 0.75 percent; the S&P 600 Small-Cap Index closing higher at 741.86 for a gain of 4.87 points or 0.66 percent; the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index closing at 1552.34 for a gain of 10.27 points or 0.67 percent; the S&P 100 Index closing at 962.29 for a gain of 3.21 points or 0.33 percent; the Russell 3000 Index closing at 1283.57 for a gain of 6.31 points or 0.49 percent; the Russell 1000 Index closing at 1204.29 for a gain of 5.68 points or 0.47 percent; and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index closing at 626.03 for a gain of 4.01 points or 0.64 percent.

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