Investing.com – Wall Street futures pointed to a higher open on Monday as global stocks got off to a positive start to the week with investors looking ahead to economic data and an appearance from former Federal Reserve (Fed) chief Ben Bernanke, while keeping an eye on moves in gold and oil.
The blue-chip Dow futures gained 64 points, or 0.30%, at 6:58AM ET (10:58GMT), the S&P 500 futures rose 5 points, or 0.22%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures traded up 20 points, or 0.34%.
Kicking off this week’s economic calendar, the U.S. Census Bureau will release durable goods orders for May at 8:30AM ET (12:30GMT).
As the European Central Bank (ECB) begins its forum on central banking on Monday, former Fed chair Ben Bernanke will be delivering a speech titled “When growth is not enough” at 1:30PM ET (17:30GMT).
Separately, market players will have to wait for current Fed chair Janet Yellen to chime in on global economic issues until Tuesday as markets hope for any new insight on the timing of when the Fed will next raise interest rates and/or begin the reduction of its $4.5 trillion balance sheet.
After conflicting remarks from several Fed policymakers in the prior week, markets remained skeptical that the central bank would indeed hike interest rates again before year end.
Fed fund futures priced in the odds of another increase in December at only around 34%, according to Investing.com's Fed Rate Monitor Tool.
Earlier on Monday, San Francisco Fed president John Williams reiterated his stance that rates should move higher gradually in an effort to maintain sustainable economic growth.
Fed governor Jerome Powell made no comments on monetary policy or the outlook for the U.S. economy in a speech that was largely a rehash of last week’s remarks that he believed there was room to ease some regulations on banks.
Meanwhile, even as the dollar edged higher against major rivals on Monday, gold futures sank around 1% as investors looked ahead to a week full of data and appearances from policymakers.
The precious metal plunged by as much as 1.7% in just seconds during overnight trade to as low as $1,236.53, a level not seen since May 16.
With no clear catalyst for the surge in volume of around $2 billion, speculation was focused on the possibility of a “fat finger” trade.
In other commodities, rebounded slightly on Monday after closing last Friday down 3.8% on the week in its fifth consecutive weekly decline as crude remained under pressure from constantly increasing U.S. shale production.
U.S. crude futures gained 0.26% to $43.12 by 6:59AM ET (10:59GMT), while Brent oil edged forward 0.07% to $45.78.
Elsewhere, European equities traded higher on Monday even as Italy announced that it would pay up to €17 billion ($19 billion) in taxpayers’ money to bail out two of its regional banks.
Also making headlines on the Old Continent, U.S. hedge fund Third Point, led by activist investor Daniel Loeb, unveiled a stake of more than 1% in Nestle (SIX:NESN) and urged the company to improve margins and buy back stock, as well as to sell off non-core assets such as its 23% stake in the French cosmetics maker L’Oreal (PA:OREP).
Earlier, Asian shares ended mostly in positive territory, as tech led gains.