U.S. stock futures were mixed early Monday morning as Wall Street looked to bounce back from a losing week.
Futures contracts tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 41 points. Meanwhile, those for the S&P 500 were little changed while Nasdaq-100 futures traded in positive territory.
The move in futures comes after the three major indexes lost ground last week. The Dow and S&P 500 slipped on Friday to finish the week down 0.5% and 0.8%, respectively, breaking two-week winning streaks. The Nasdaq Composite rose on Friday but still finished the week with a 0.8% loss.
The struggles for stocks came as bond yields jumped again last week, pressuring the tech and growth stocks that led the market back from its pandemic-sparked sell-off last year. On Sunday, futures for the price of 10-year Treasury note rose, indicating lower yields.
Even with the weakness last week, the S&P 500 and Dow are still near record highs, and the Nasdaq isn’t too far off. Darrell Cronk, chief investment officer of Wells Fargo’s Wealth and Investment Management, said the stock market still appeared to be on track for a multi-year climb.
“If you went down the list and started putting boxes of check-check-check-check, you would look at this in a vacuum … and say it looks like an early recovery cycle that’s roughly a year in that probably has a number of years yet to run,” Cronk said.
Optimism about the markets and the path of the U.S. economy has been growing as vaccines are rolling out across the country, with the pace of Americans getting shots climbing in recent weeks. Several states are seeing an increase in Covid-19 cases, however.
Over the weekend, the industrials sector produced a major piece of corporate news. Canadian Pacific Railway announced that it was buying Kansas City Southern in a deal valued at $25 billion, creating a rail giant that connects, Canada, the U.S. and Mexico.
On the economic data front, investors will get another look at the housing market on Monday when the National Association of Realtors releases existing home sales for February. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones are projecting a decline of 2.8%.
