Stocks are expected to open slowly on Monday because this week will bring a small number of earnings reports as well as new data on housing and other economic indicators.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell 24 points, or less than 0.1%, at 6:15 p.m. ET on Sunday. The S&P 500 futures also fell 0.1%, and the Nasdaq Composite futures stayed the same.
This week’s big earnings reports come from Steelcase on Wednesday, La-Z-Boy and Lennar Corp. on Monday, and KB Home and Lennar Corp. on Tuesday.
On Thursday, Accenture, Darden Restaurants (parent company of Olive Garden and Longhorn Steakhouse), Jabil, Kroger Co., and Winnebago Industries report their earnings. On Friday, CarMax and FactSet Research Systems do the same.
The Empire State Manufacturing Survey from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York came out on Monday, which was one of the most important economic events this week. The Census Bureau will release sales data for May in stores and food services on Tuesday.
The equity and fixed-income markets will be closed on Wednesday in honor of National Independence Day, Juneteenth. The National Association of Home Builders will also release its June Housing Market Index.
The Labor Department will report first claims for unemployment benefits for the week ending June 15, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia will release its Manufacturing Business Outlook Survey for June. All of these reports will be released on Thursday by the Census Bureau.
The Bank of England and the Swiss National Bank will both make decisions about monetary policy on Thursday as well. It is likely that the Bank of England will keep its main short-term interest rate at 5.25%.
Traders think there is a 75% chance that the Swiss National Bank will lower its main policy rate by a quarter of a percentage point to 1.25%. The SNB was the first major global central bank to lower rates this year, by a quarter of a percentage point, in March.
Friday, June Manufacturing and Services Purchasing Managers’ Indexes from S&P Global will be released. Also that day, May existing-home sales from the National Association of Realtors will be reported, and May Leading Economic Indexes from the Conference Board will be released.
