Wall Street is closed today for the Martin Luther King memorial holiday, but index futures are currently set very much on the back foot. Optimism over a resolution being found for the US – China trade deal is failing to provide any meaningful cheer and those disappointing GDP figures from China over the weekend certainly aren’t delivering any upside, either.
There’s also the ongoing matter of the US government shutdown, although signals from the White House do seem to suggest that Donald Trump is willing to offer concessions, whilst the Democrats are in a position to approve some kind of physical barrier on the Mexican border.
There’s certainly the potential for good news to emerge later in the week on the political front, although earnings season remains in full swing and again, disappointment here could heap downside pressure on already-struggling indices. That GDP print from China lays clear the fact that an economic slowdown is underway and with this looming large, investors could well be wary about inflating equity valuations any further.
At present we’re calling the Dow down 111 at 24595 and the S&P 500 down 11 at 2660.