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Investing.com – U.S. stocks are seen opening marginally lower Monday, with technology underperforming ahead of the release of key inflation data this week which could point towards early Federal Reserve hikes in 2022.
At 7 AM ET (1200 GMT), the Dow Futures contract was flat, S&P 500 Futures traded 5 points, or 0.1%, lower and Nasdaq 100 Futures dropped 35 points, or 0.2%.
The major indices on Wall Street have had a shaky start to the year, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite posting four losing days on the trot last week as rising expectations of Fed hikes pressured a sector whose sky-high valuations have owed much to assumptions of easy money for years out into the future.
With this in mind, investors will focus squarely on Wednesday’s consumer price inflation data. This is expected to show headline CPI breaking above 7% year-on-year, approaching a four-decade high, and underscoring why the Fed could start its rate hike cycle as early as March.
The nomination hearings of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, on Tuesday, and Fed Governor Lael Brainard for the post of vice chair on Thursday will also be followed closely for any clues of the future of monetary policy.
Influential investment bank Goldman Sachs now sees the Federal Reserve raising interest rates four times this year, starting its balance sheet runoff process in July, if not earlier.
In corporate news, Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) will be in focus Monday after Goldman Sachs named the electric car manufacturer as its top pick for 2022, saying innovation in the sector will continue to drive growth for investors.
The big U.S. banks start posting fourth-quarterly earnings results at the end of this week, with JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM), Citigroup (NYSE:C) and Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) scheduled to report on Friday. Analysts expect big U.S. banks to show an uptick in fourth quarter core revenues, helped by higher Treasury yields.
Cannabis company Tilray (NASDAQ:TLRY) heads up a thin earnings schedule on Monday.
Oil prices stabilized Monday after the sharp gains of the previous week, as operator Chevron said Sunday that Kazakhstan’s largest oil venture, Tengizchevroil, is gradually returning to normal production levels after recent protests limited output.
Libya’s oil production is also recovering after a major crude pipeline was fixed, the country’s energy minister said Monday.
Supply outages in places like Kazakhstan and Libya have thrown the spotlight on global supply, superseding concerns that the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant might hurt demand.
By 7 AM ET, U.S. crude futures traded 0.2% lower at $78.78 a barrel, while the Brent contract fell 0.1% to $81.66. Both contracts posted gains of around 5% in the first week of the year.
Additionally, gold futures rose 0.2% to $1,800.20/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.3% lower at 1.1326.
