(Reuters) -U.S. stock index futures edged higher on Monday, after Wall Street closed lower in the previous session, buoyed by rising hopes that the Federal Reserve could soon resume its monetary easing cycle.
Investors firmed bets on a 25-basis-point cut in September after Friday’s worrying nonfarm payrolls report confirmed the U.S. labor market was deteriorating. The bets now stand at 90%, according to CME Group’s FedWatch tool.
A jumbo 50-bps cut was also on the cards, compared to no such expectation before the data was released.
Wall Street’s main indexes closed lower on Friday, however, as the initial rate-cut optimism faded and stoked fears of a potential slowdown in the world’s biggest economy.
Numerous brokerages revised their calls for Fed rate cuts. Barclays now anticipates three cuts of 25 bps each in 2025 compared with two earlier, while Standard Chartered expects a 50-bps trim in September – double its earlier projection of a 25-bps reduction.
At 05:22 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 54 points, or 0.12%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 12.5 points, or 0.19%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 80.5 points, or 0.34%.
Inflation data will be on investors’ radar this week to gauge the impact of President Donald Trump’s tariff policies on the U.S. economy, and whether it could strengthen the case for a bigger cut.
A preliminary reading of the University of Michigan’s sentiment survey and a revision to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ payrolls benchmark are also due this week.
The Fed now enters a “blackout” period that barrs public statements in the run up to its September 16-17 meeting.
The S&P and the Nasdaq hit record highs on Friday, logging gains last week in a positive start to a historically dour September.
The benchmark S&P 500 has lost 1.5% on average in the month – its worst month since 2000 – data compiled by LSEG shows.
Among stocks, retail trading platform Robinhood Markets and marketing platform AppLovin gained 7.5% and 7.7%, respectively, in premarket trading.
The companies are set to join the S&P 500, effective September 22, after being snubbed during the last rebalancing.
(Reporting by Purvi Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai)
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