Investing.com — U.S. stock index futures were slightly lower in evening trading on Monday as Wall Street stabilized near record highs and attention focused on further signals from the Federal Reserve on upcoming interest rates.
Wall Street is off to a sluggish start this week, recovering slightly from Friday's declines but still has its sights set on the record highs hit last week following the Fed's big interest rate cut.
As of 19:16 ET (23:16 GMT), it was down 0.1% to 5,770.75 points and 0.2% to 20,050.50 points. It was down 0.1% to 42,451.0 points.
Fed Speakers Await PCE Data
The focus this week will be on speeches by a number of Federal Reserve officials, most notably for further clues about the central bank's plans for further interest rate cuts.
Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari said he expects the Fed to ease the pace of rate cuts going forward after a strong start to the easing cycle, while Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic said he doesn't expect the Fed to “rush ahead” with rate cuts even though the economy is moving closer to normalizing faster than expected.
Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee said the Fed's 50 basis point interest rate cut last week further strengthens the case for a soft landing.
The Fed cut interest rates last week at the high end of market expectations, signalling the start of an easing cycle that has analysts expecting it to cut rates by 125 basis points by the end of the year.
Data on the Fed's key inflation measure is also due on Friday and is likely to inform the central bank's rate-cutting plans. The figure remains above the central bank's 2 percent annual target.
Wall Street eyes record highs, PMIs mixed
Wall Street stock indexes edged higher on Monday, with the Fiat Chrysalis and the Nikkei 225 holding near recent highs. The Nikkei 225 lagged as tech stocks slumped and investors bought into other economically sensitive sectors.
On Monday, the S&P 500 rose 0.3% to 5,718.57 points, the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.1% to 17,973.60 points and the Dow rose 0.2% to 42,124.65 points.
September purchasing managers' index data painted a mixed picture for the U.S. economy, with growth surpassing expectations while the decline in manufacturing activity worsened during the month.
It was the worst contraction since July 2023.
