U.S. stock index futures moved little on Monday evening, steadying after a sharp pullback in technology stocks dragged Wall Street off record highs, with focus remaining on key upcoming inflation data.
Risk sentiment was also rattled by heightened geopolitical uncertainty over a regime change in Syria, as the Bashar al-Assad government was overthrown after over 20 years of rule.
S&P 500 Futures fell 0.1% to 6,061.75 points, while Nasdaq 100 Futures fell 0.1% to 21,476.0 points by 18:27 ET (23:27 GMT). Dow Jones Futures steadied at 44,469.0 points.
CPI data awaited for more rate cues
Focus this week is squarely on consumer price index inflation data due on Wednesday, which is expected to show inflation remained upbeat in November.
Headline CPI is expected to increase slightly to 2.7% from 2.6% year-on-year, while core CPI, which excludes volatile items, is expected to remain at 3.3%.
While inflation had fallen steadily earlier in 2024, it turned more sticky in recent months amid resilience in the U.S. economy, sparking some uncertainty over the outlook for interest rates.
Markets are still holding out for a 25 basis point rate cut by the Federal Reserve next week. But the longer-term outlook for rates has now turned more uncertain, with expectations of inflationary policies under incoming President Donald Trump adding to the mix.
Nvidia, Oracle losses pressure tech stocks
Losses in technology stocks- after a strong run-up in recent weeks- were the biggest weight on Wall Street on Monday, with NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) among the biggest decliners.
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Nvidia fell 2.6% during Monday’s session, and was down 0.6% in aftermarket trade following reports that China was probing the firm over antitrust concerns.
Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) tumbled nearly 8% in aftermarket trade after the cloud firm’s quarterly earnings missed lofty street estimates, amid increased competition in the sector from heavyweights including MSFT and AMZN.
While the firm is expected to benefit from increasing demand in the artificial intelligence industry, Monday’s miss suggested that earnings may not be as strong as investors were hoping.
Losses in tech saw the S&P 500 fall 0.6% to 6,052.85 points, while the NASDAQ Composite fell 0.6% to 19,741.30 points. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.5% to 44,401.93 points.
Among other afterhours movers, MongoDB (NASDAQ:MDB) surged 10% on stronger-than-expected quarterly earnings.
C3.ai Inc (NYSE:AI) rallied 15% after its quarterly earnings topped estimates on robust AI-fueled demand.
Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) added 0.8% after it announced a new $15 billion share buyback and hiked its dividend.
