Investing.com - U.S. futures pointed to a higher open on Monday as investors followed through on the strong close last week while waiting for a string of speeches from members of the Federal Reserve.
The blue-chip Dow futures gained 58 points, or 0.24%, by 6:42AM ET (10:42GMT), the S&P 500 futures rose 8 points, or 0.30%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures traded up 39 points, or 0.58%
In a session with no major economic reports scheduled, traders looked ahead to several appearances by Fed officials on Monday to gauge the future path of monetary policy.
Richmond Fed president Tom Barkin will deliver a speech at George Mason University in Virgina, while several other policymakers will participate in the Atlanta Fed’s 23rd Annual Financial Markets Conference.
Atlanta Fed chief Raphael Bostic, Chicago Fed president Charles Evans, the head of the Dallas Fed Robert Kaplan and Philadelphia Fed president Patrick Harker will all participate in the event held on Monday.
The string of speakers will come ahead of remarks from Fed Chair Jerome Powell, who will appear at a conference hosted jointly by the Swiss National Bank and International Monetary Fund, in Zurich on Tuesday. He is due to deliver a speech titled "Monetary Policy Influences on Global Financial Conditions and International Capital Flows".
Markets currently expect the next rate hike to arrive in June, with a follow-up in September. Odds for a fourth increase in 2018 at the end of the year remained at around 42% at the time of writing.
While waiting for the speakers, the dollar started Monday off to the upside, adding to three straight weeks of gains and hovering near a four-month high.
At 6:43AM ET (10:43GMT) Monday, the U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, rose 0.26% to 92.66, close to its 2018 peak of 92.75.
On the company front, with 409 S&P 500 firms having already released earnings, 45 will be reporting this week in what will be the last big wave of first quarter reports.
AMC Entertainment (NYSE:AMC), Hertz Global (NYSE:HTZ), Sysco (NYSE:SYY) and Tyson Foods (NYSE:TSN) were among firms schedules to report on Monday.
Pharmaceutical and healthcare companies will be on watch as U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to give a speech this week outlining new regulations to lower drug prices.
Also on the political front, ministers from the United States, Canada and Mexico will gather again in Washington on Monday to begin what government officials and industry leaders hope is the final leg of negotiations over the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
Capturing headlines, crude oil prices jumped to their highest level since 2014 as market participants increased their bets that the U.S. would pull out the Iran nuclear deal, raising the potential for tighter global oil stockpiles.
U.S. crude futures inched up 0.03% to $67.95 by 6:44AM ET (10:44GMT), while Brent oil traded down 0.25% to $73.17.
Elsewhere Europe’s major stock markets posted slight gains, as companies delivered strong earnings figures, while UK markets were closed for a public holiday, reducing activity.
Earlier, Asian shares closed mostly higher, after U.S. stocks rallied Friday on a solid April jobs report.