US stocks traded lower before the bell on Monday as investors prepared for a busy week of economic data and important earnings from Nvidia Corp.
Contracts for the S&P 500 Index were 0.1% lower at 8:23 a.m. in New York, putting the benchmark in position to give back some of the gains made on Friday. Meanwhile, futures on the technology-heavy Nasdaq 100 Index fell 0.5%. Treasury yields were lower across maturities, while Brent crude hovered at around $93 per barrel.
“This is a key week for markets with Nvidia’s earnings and the annual Jackson Hole speech, which normally wouldn’t have a link, but Nvidia needs to impress in order to keep one leg of the stock market stable, and Warsh needs to provide clarity on interest rates in order to keep the other leg of the stock market stable,” said Richard Reyle, chief investment officer at Questar Capital Partners.
See more: US Stocks Gain as Nasdaq 100 Looks to Snap Five-Day Slump
A series of data releases will begin with consumer confidence numbers for August on Tuesday, followed by the personal consumption expenditures price index Wednesday and initial jobless claims Thursday. The University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment survey rounds out the week on Friday.
In addition, the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium starts at the end of the week. Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh will have an opportunity to clarify his views on how the central bank should react to stubborn inflation when he speaks at the annual gathering on Friday.
The address is “unlikely to yield much in the way of actionable insight,” said Nicholas Colas, co-founder of DataTrek Research. “US monetary policy uncertainty is now higher than it was just a few months ago and will almost certainly remain that way for the foreseeable future.”
