Wall Street's main indexes were set for a tepid open on Monday as investors remained on the fence ahead of key inflation data later this week, while heavyweight technology shares largely shrugged off a deal by the world's richest nations on a global minimum corporate tax.
The Group of Seven (G7) advanced economies agreed on Saturday to back a minimum global corporate tax rate of at least 15%, but analysts said immediate market implications would be minimal since the details remained to be negotiated over the coming months. read more
Shares of Apple Inc (AAPL.O)and Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) inched higher, while Facebook Inc (FB.O) and Google-parent Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O)were flat in premarket trading, broadly in line with the bigger market's move.
"While it all sounds good, the road to implementation (of the tax deal) is full of rocks and potholes," said Ken Polcari, managing partner at Kace Capital Advisors. "I would not react by becoming a seller in any of these names on this headline just yet."
Wall Street's main indexes ended higher on Friday, led by technology shares, after a tepid U.S. monthly jobs report relieved investors concerned about the Federal Reserve scaling back its massive stimulus program sooner than expected.
The benchmark S&P 500 (.SPX) is inches away from its record highs hit earlier in May as investors shift focus to May's consumer price data due on Thursday to assess inflationary patterns in the economy.
"What we're going to see here is a range-bound market as anxiety over inflation data later in the week is probably going to cap stocks," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities in New York.
At 8:37 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 70 points, or 0.2%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 2.5 points, or 0.06%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 3.75 points, or 0.03%.
Cinema operator AMC Entertainment (AMC.N) added 2.2% after racking up a near 200% rise in the past two weeks, driven by retail investors. Other "meme stocks" including GameStop (GME.N) and U.S.-listed shares of BlackBerry also inched higher.
Some traders are betting against another massive rally in these names this week through a type of wager in the options market that would limit their losses should retail investors behind the run-up prove them wrong. read more
Data center operator QTS Realty Trust (QTS.N) surged nearly 18% on media reports of a takeover deal by investment firm Blackstone Group (BX.N) for $6.7 billion. read more
Drugmaker Biogen Inc (BIIB.O) rose 3.1% ahead of the U.S. FDA's decision on whether to approve its Alzheimer's drug aducanumab. read more
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Source: reuters.com
