Stock market today: Dow futures fall as investors await key economic data

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell 0.04%

Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.08%

On Friday, The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 137.89 points, or 0.33%, to 42,313, while the S&P 500 fell 7.2 points, or 0.13%, to 5,738 and the Nasdaq 100 fell 106.91 points, or 0.53% fell to 20,009.

Stock futures fell Monday morning as investors awaited what Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell will say this afternoon at the annual meeting of the National Association for Business Economics in Nashville, Tennessee.

With U.S. inflation now slowing toward the Fed’s 2% target rate, Powell’s speech is likely to provide clues as to whether the U.S. central bank might be prepared to make another significant 50 basis point cut at its upcoming meeting in November.

Aside from Powell’s speech, investors are also awaiting new business metrics data from Chicago and manufacturing activity data from the Dallas Fed, both of which will provide important information about the health of the U.S. economy.

The rally on Chinese stock markets continued on Monday morning after the People’s Bank of China unveiled a huge stimulus package last Tuesday, which also boosted shares of European luxury companies.

Today is the last day of trading on the Shanghai Stock Exchange before the market closes for a week from Tuesday October 1 to Monday October 7 for China’s nationwide Golden Week celebrations.