U.S. stock futures rose Sunday, in hopes ofbuilding on Friday's rebound, as investors await the start of the critical
holiday shopping season following a wild week on Wall Street.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures (YM00)gained around 160 points, or 0.4%, late Sunday. S&P 500 futures (ES00)
advanced 0.5% and Nasdaq-100 futures (NQ00) rose 0.7%. Crude futures (CL.1)
fell, as did gold futures (GC00). The ICE U.S. Dollar Index DXY was little
changed.
Stocks gained Friday, but were down sharplyfor the week. The tech-heavy Nasdaq COMP slid 2.7%, falling for a third
straight week, while the Dow DJIA and S&P 500 SPX each dropped 1.9%. The
tech sector has been beaten down amid growing worries of a potential bubble in
artificial-intelligence stocks, and an upbeat earnings report from AI chipmaker
Nvidia (NVDA) last Wednesday were not enough to relieve those fears.
Bitcoin (BTCUSD) managed a weekend rally,though, after the leading cryptocurrency lost about a third of its value since
hitting an all-time high price on Oct. 6. After bottoming out below the $83,000
level Friday, bitcoin has rallied more than 4% over the weekend, and was
recently near the $88,000 level.
That may boost investor sentiment Monday,as bitcoin has, surprisingly, become a leading indicator for stocks in recent
months.
With many investors taking an extendedvacation before the Thanksgiving holiday Thursday, the upcoming week could see
lighter, but potentially volatile, trading. All eyes will be on consumer
spending as the holiday shopping season kicks off later this week with Black
Friday sales.
With a dearth of economic reports due tothe lingering effects of the U.S. government shutdown, any early indications of
all-important retail sales data will be closely watched.
See: Why the stakes for stocks are so highin this short Thanksgiving trading week ahead
"With consumer sentiment weakening andthe market starved for real-time signals, the mall becomes the macro,"
Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management, said in a weekend
note. "This makes every sniff of holiday activity - foot traffic, discount
depth, card authorizations - disproportionately important. In a data desert,
even a puddle looks like a lake."
After quarterly earnings reports by big-boxretailers such as Walmart (WMT), Target (TGT) and Home Depot (HD) last week,
this week will see results from another batch of retailers, including Kohl's
(KSS), Dick's Sporting Goods (DKS), Best Buy (BBY), Petco (WOOF) and Urban
Outfitters (URBN).
More: Retailers try to downplay worriesabout lower-income shoppers, as bargains reign supreme
The stock market will be closed Thursdayfor Thanksgiving, and will have a shortened session Friday.