Wall Street index futures have remained under pressure coming out of the holiday weekend, with disarray still dominating when it comes to next steps in those critical Sino-US trade talks. Reports suggest that the two sides are struggling to agree on a plan when it comes to the next round of negotiations, with Beijing having now filed a complaint with the WTO over Washington’s latest set of tariffs.
After an understandably quiet start to the week as a result of the Federal holiday, economic news is set to pick up a little in the coming hours, although meaningful direction may have to wait for a while yet. The revised August manufacturing PMI print could offer some respite if it manages to push back above the break-even 50 mark, whilst construction spending data for July may also have the potential to send a shockwave through the market if another negative print is seen here. With the construction sector being a reasonable forward-looking indicator, again, any shortfall will heap pressure on the Federal Reserve to take an even more accommodative tone heading towards the year end. Two rate cuts are being priced in by Christmas, but indications of anything more dovish than this has the potential to draw a line under the recent slide for stocks.
Ahead of the open, the market is calling the DOW down 213 at 26190 and the S&P down 23 at 2903 from Friday’s closing prices.