Investing.com – U.S. futures pointed to a slightly higher opening bell on Monday as earnings season kicks off this week.
The S&P 500 futures rose a quarter of a point or 0.01% as of 6:42 AM ET (11:42 GMT) while Dow futures increased 40 points or 0.16%. Meanwhile tech heavy Nasdaq 100 futures was up over one point or 0.02%.
Semiconductor Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) was among the top performers in pre-market trading, rising 2.27%. Technology firm NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) increased 2.34% after it announced it was making its AI chip for self-driving cars available to customers. Meanwhile General Electric (NYSE:GE) inched forward 0.32% while Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) gained 0.21%.
Elsewhere Royal Dutch Shell (LON:RDSa) PLC ADR (NYSE:RDSa) company dipped down 0.55% while Deutsche Bank AG (DE:DBKGn) NA O.N. (NYSE:DB) decreased 1.24% amid news that its trading revenue in the fourth quarter fell 22% year-on-year. HSBC Holdings (LON:HSBA) PLC ADR (NYSE:HSBC) declined 0.46%.
Investors are looking ahead to the week as earnings season starts, with financial giants BlackRock Inc (NYSE:BLK), JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) and Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) expected to release their financial results on Friday.
On Monday, Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael Bostic is expected to deliver remarks on the economic outlook and monetary policy at the Rotary Club of Atlanta. Later in the day, San Francisco Fed President John Williams and Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren will be delivering separate remarks at Brookings Institution in Washington.
In Europe stocks were up. Germany’s DAX rose 57 points or 0.43% while in France the CAC 40 increased 26 points or 0.48% and in London, the FTSE 100 inched forward two points or 0.03%. Meanwhile the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 was up 15 points or 0.44% while Spain’s IBEX 35 gained 31 points or 0.30%.
In commodities, gold futures were down 0.09% to $1,321.10 a troy ounce while crude oil futures surged 0.81% to $61.94 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, rallied 0.24% to 91.97.