Investing.com – Wall Street futures pointed to a higher open on Monday as the weekend passed with no heightening of tensions over North Korea, allowing risk appetite to return to markets, and Hurricane Irma weakened considerably, suggesting that damage may not be as dire as feared.
The blue-chip Dow futures gained 120 points, or 0.55%, at 6:45AM ET (10:45GMT), the S&P 500 futures rose 13 points, or 0.53%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures traded up 45 points, or 0.76%.
Despite worries from South Korea that its northern neighbor was planning another intercontinental ballistic missile launch to coincide with the 69th anniversary of its founding, Kim Jong Un refrained from upping the tensions against U.N. sanctions, opting instead to hold a massive celebration over the weekend.
Global stocks seemed to give a sigh of relief on Monday, trading broadly higher as investors put risk back on the table.
The U.N. Security Council is set to vote on Monday on a watered-down U.S.-drafted resolution to impose new sanctions on North Korea over its latest nuclear test, diplomats said
With market participants unwinding risk off trades, safe havens were under pressure on Monday.
Gold fell back from a one-year high, the yen lost ground against the dollar and interest in sovereign bonds such as the U.S. Treasury or German Bund faded, pushing yields higher.
Risk sentiment received a further boost after Hurricane Irma struck the U.S. southeast with less force than once feared, scaling back estimates for economic damage.
Irma hit Florida on Sunday morning as a dangerous Category 4 storm, the second highest level on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale, but by afternoon as it barreled up the west coast, it weakened to a Category 2 with maximum sustained winds of 110 miles per hour (177 km/h).
It is forecast to weaken to a tropical storm over northern Florida or southern Georgia later Monday.
Meanwhile, oil prices showed mixed trade on Monday as investors watched developments surrounding Irma and eyed talks over the possibility of extending the production cut agreement.
Saudi Arabia's Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih met his Venezuelan and Kazakh counterparts at the weekend to discuss an extension of the deal by at least three months, the Saudi energy ministry said.
U.S. crude futures traded up 0.61% to $47.77 by 6:47AM ET (10:47GMT), while Brent oil lost 0.35% to $53.59.