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

U.S. stock futures are pointing higher in pre-market trading for Monday, August 15. The Dow Futures are at 18558.0 for a gain of 35.00 points. The S&P 500 Futures are at 2183.5 for a gain of 3.25 points. The Nasdaq Futures are at 4813.25 for a gain of 9.00 points. The Russell Futures are at 1230.1 for a gain of 2.90 points.

In overnight trading in the Eastern Hemisphere Japan’s Nikkei 225 was at 16869.56 for a loss of -50.36 points or -0.30 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was at 22932.51 for a gain of 165.60 points or 0.73 percent. China’s Shanghai Composite was at 3125.20 for a gain of 74.53 points or 2.44 percent. India’s S&P BSE Sensex was at 28152.40 for a gain of 292.80 points or 1.05 percent. The FTSE 100 is at 6933.48 for a gain of 17.46 points or 0.25 percent. Germany’s DAX is at 10759.04 for a gain of 45.61 points or 0.43 percent. France’s CAC 40 is at 4504.61 for a gain of 4.42 points or 0.10 percent. The Stoxx Europe 600 is at 346.64 for a gain of 0.55 points or 0.16 percent.

Monday’s Factors and Events

Reports on the economic calendar for Monday include the Empire State Manufacturing Survey and the Housing Market Index. The economic calendar is light for the day however stocks appear to be trending higher. Positive momentum in the market is likely to continue as numerous companies report their second quarter earnings.

Stocks trading actively in the pre-market on Monday include the following:

Marathon Petroleum

Transocean Ltd

FMC Technologies

Garmin Ltd

Exelon Corp

UnitedHealth

United Parcel Service

Corning

HCP Inc

J B Hunt Transport

Traders will likely be focusing more on tomorrow’s data reports which include the Consumer Price Index and the E-Commerce Retail Sales report. Retail sales and retail earnings will continue to be a key focus for the market as the second quarter earnings reports begin to come to a close in the next few weeks.

Friday’s Activity

U.S. market indexes were lower on Friday. For the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 18576.47 for a loss of -37.05 points or -0.20 percent. The S&P 500 was also lower, closing at 2184.05 for a loss of -1.74 points or -0.08 percent. The Nasdaq Composite closed higher for the day at 5232.89 for a gain of 4.50 points or 0.09 percent. On Friday the VIX Volatility Index was lower for the day at 11.55, for a loss of -0.13 points or -1.11 percent.

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Source: DJIA, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite. Google Finance.

Other notable index closes on Friday included the small-cap Russell 2000 Index, higher at 1229.82 for a gain of 0.70 points or 0.06 percent; the S&P 600 Small-Cap Index, lower at 744.16 for a loss of -0.92 points or -0.12 percent; the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index closing at 1557.77 for a loss of -2.32 points or -0.15 percent; the S&P 100 Index lower at 966.51 for a loss of -1.15 points or -0.12 percent; the Russell 3000 Index lower at 1290.17 for a loss of -0.85 points or -0.07 percent; the Russell 1000 Index was lower at 1209.63 for a loss of -0.92 points or -0.08 percent; and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index was lower at 621.36 for a loss of -0.63 points or -0.10 percent.