Futures Pointing To Initial Pullback On Wall Street

(RTTNews) - After ending last week's trading on an upbeat note, stocks may move back to the downside in early trading on Monday. The major index futures are currently pointing to a lower open for the markets, with the S&P 500 futures down by 0.3 percent.

The downward momentum on Wall Street comes amid a substantial rebound by the price of crude oil, which has been a key driver of trading in recent sessions.

U.S. crude oil futures are surging by 2.6 percent after tumbling by 2.3 percent during last Friday's trading after President Donald Trump rejected Iran's conditional proposal for reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

President Trump has rejected Iran's proposal for a seven-day ceasefire and has told aides he expects to resume bombing Iran after the November midterms, U.S. officials said.

Iran's proposal would have purportedly reopened the strait and resumed nuclear talks in return for the U.S. lifting its blockade of Iranian ports.

A report from the Wall Street Journal citing U.S. officials said Trump has told aides he expects to resume bombing Iran after the November midterm elections.

Overall trading activity may be somewhat subdued, however, with a lack of major U.S. economic data likely to keep some traders on the sidelines.

On Wednesday, the Commerce Department is scheduled to release its report on personal income and spending in the month of August, which includes the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation readings.

The inflation data could have a significant impact on the outlook for interest rates ahead of the Fed's next monetary policy meeting late next month.

Stocks fluctuated early in the session on Friday but moved mostly higher over the course of the trading day. The major averages all finished the day in positive territory after ending the previous session roughly flat.

The Dow advanced 478.64 points or 0.9 percent to 51,828.62, bouncing off its lowest closing level in over three months. The Nasdaq climbed 129.34 points or 0.5 percent to 27,068.72 and the S&P 500 rose 39.28 points or 0.5 percent to 7,743.41.

For the week, the tech-heavy Nasdaq surged by 2.1 percent, the S&P 500 jumped by 1.2 percent and the Dow increased by 0.3 percent.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance during trading on Monday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index slid by 0.7 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index climbed by 0.5 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets have all moved to the upside on the day. The French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.6 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.5 percent and the German DAX Index is up by 0.2 percent.

In commodities trading, crude oil futures are surging $2.40 to $94.81 a barrel after plunging $2.20 to $92.41 a barrel last Friday. Meanwhile, after rising $23.20 to $4,321.20 an ounce in the previous session, gold futures are plummeting $138.20 to $4,183 an ounce.

On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 157.17 yen versus the 157.26 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Friday. Against the euro, the dollar is trading at $1.369 compared to last Friday's $1.1391.