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U.S. stock futures pointed to indexes holding near record highs, as traders returned from a three-day break on Tuesday.
What’s happening
-
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average
YM00,
-0.03%
fell 6 points; -
Futures on the S&P 500
ES00,
-0.08%
eased 0.1%; -
Futures on the Nasdaq 100
NQ00,
-0.14%
eased 0.1%.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite
COMP,
ended at a record high on Friday, and gained 1.6% last week. The S&P 500
SPX,
and Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
finished the week within touching distances of record highs.
What’s driving markets
Analysts were still discussing the implications of the disappointing August payrolls report released Friday by the Labor Department, which showed 235,000 nonfarm jobs created.
Analysts at BCA Research pointed out that while no leisure and hospitality jobs were created last month, wages rose — an indicator that the delta wave of COVID-19 infections is the primary cause for the jobs disappointment, and not a shift in the industry’s hiring needs.
“We expect strong job growth in the months ahead as supply-side labor constraints are removed and infections rates ease. This implies that the Fed will continue to prepare for the normalization of monetary policy, starting with a taper announcement later this year,” they said.
Strategists at Barclays lifted their year-end S&P 500 price target to 4,600 from 4,400. “We do not believe that the start of the taper will lead to a significant market selloff,” the Barclays strategists said.
