Retail stocks will be in focus as Black Friday data rolls in
Stock futures are signaling a positive open today, as U.S. markets try to bounce back from last week's heavy selling. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) is set to open up more than 200 points, and the S&P 500 Index (SPX) and Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX) are eyeing strong starts, too, thanks to pre-market gains from tech stocks.
The retail and energy sectors should also be in focus today. For the former, Black Friday and Cyber Monday data will be the main story, putting names like Amazon.com (AMZN), Walmart (WMT), and Target (TGT) in the spotlight. Meanwhile, rising oil prices could help energy names, with January-dated crude futures up 92 cents, or 1.8%, at $51.34 per barrel.
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The week will start off slow with only the Chicago Fed National Activity Index and the Dallas Fed manufacturing survey. Buckle (BKE) will report earnings.
Asian markets started the week mostly higher, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng surging 1.7% on a strong day for tech giant Tencent. Japan's Nikkei tacked on 0.8% after the long holiday weekend with retailers FamilyMart and Nitori seeing notable upside, while South Korea's Kospi gained 1.2%. China's Shanghai Composite gave back early gains to settle down 0.1%.
European markets are higher after the European Union (EU) on Sunday okayed British Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit plan. Plus, the European Commission is reportedly willing to compromise with Italy over the country's budget plan. Against this backdrop, the German DAX is up 1.2%, while London's FTSE 100 and the French CAC 40 are both flirting with 0.7% gains.