U.S. stock futures edged higher and European ones traded flat after a mixed session in Asia, as investors monitor geopolitical risks and prepare for the high-stakes meeting between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping. Oil climbed as the U.S. said it was planning sanctions on Iran.
Shares saw modest gains or flat performances across major Asian markets Monday. S&P 500 futures rose after the gauge Friday slipped from an all-time high. The yen and the offshore yuan were steady. The yield on 10-year Treasuries was flat at 2.05%. The Turkish lira jumped after the opposition candidate won the redo of Istanbul’s mayoral race. The Aussie rose after Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Philip Lowe said there are limits to what monetary easing can achieve. Crude oil traded just below $58 in New York.
Investors are weighing the Middle East situation alongside a dovish shift from major central banks and the ongoing trade tensions between the U.S. and China. Next up comes a speech from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Tuesday, then the Trump-Xi tete-a-tete on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Japan at the end of the week.
Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari said Friday he called for a 50 basis point reduction in interest rates at the central bank’s June 18-19 meeting. Fed Vice Chairman Richard Clarida said the argument in favor of cutting rates has strengthened recently as cross currents buffet the U.S. economy amid heightened uncertainty.
“The market may be overly optimistic about three rate cuts,” Mary Nicola, a strategist at Eastspring Investments Ltd., told Bloomberg TV in Hong Kong. “We could get one, maybe two cuts, but it is hard to see the Fed going into a cutting cycle when the U.S. consumer is holding up relatively well. There’s some room for disappointment.”
Meanwhile the U.S. plans to announce more sanctions against Iran, but Trump is also willing to negotiate with Iranian leaders with “no preconditions” to ensure the Islamic Republic never acquires a nuclear weapon. The sanctions would come days after the U.S. president abruptly called off a plan for air strikes.
Here are some key events coming up:
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell speaks at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York Tuesday. He’ll discuss the challenges facing the U.S. economy.MSCI Inc. announces results of its 2019 Market Classification Review on Tuesday, including whether Kuwait gets upgraded from frontier to emerging-market status.Group of 20 summit in Osaka, Japan on Friday and Saturday.
These are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
Futures on the S&P 500 Index rose 0.3% as of 8:06 a.m. in London. The underlying gauge lost 0.1% Friday.Euro Stoxx 50 futures were little changed. MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.3%.
Currencies
The yen was at 107.44 per dollar, up 0.1%. The offshore yuan dipped 0.1% to 6.8718 per dollar. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index dipped 0.1%.The euro bought $1.1377, up 0.1%.The lira rose 1.3% to 5.74 per dollar. The Aussie gained 0.5% to 69.59 U.S. cents.
Bonds
The yield on 10-year Treasuries was at 2.05%.
Commodities
West Texas Intermediate rose 0.6% to $57.78 a barrel. Gold increased 0.4% to $1,405.30 an ounce.
