Stock market today: Wall Street set to open higher after another winning week

Wall Street was set to open with gains Monday in a week expected to be fairly quiet, with only a few market-moving economic releases and a handful of notable corporate earnings reports.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 0.3% before the bell and S&P 500 futures rose 0.1%.

Apple shares were unchanged after the European Union made its first charges under its new digital competition rules. European regulators accuse Apple of preventing app creators from directing users to cheaper options outside its App Store. The company could face fines of up to 10% of its global turnover, which could amount to billions of euros, or daily fines.

Shares of Under Armor fell 1.6% before the bell after the athletic footwear and apparel company agreed to settle accusations that CEO Kevin Plank hid its faltering performance from investors. Under Armour, which has denied any wrongdoing, will pay $434 million to settle the class action lawsuit filed by investors.

The most important economic data coming this week are the inflation numbers from the government's consumer spending report released Friday. The PCE index is the Federal Reserve's preferred measure of inflation and carries significant weight when the central bank considers its interest rate policy.

The Fed raised its benchmark policy rate after the economy rebounded during the pandemic as demand and other factors sent prices soaring. Fed officials are trying to slow the economy by raising interest rates to bring stubborn inflation back to its 2% target without tipping the economy into a recession.

Although most analysts still expect a rate cut this year, it is far less than the few reductions they expected.

The other notable report this week is the June Consumer Confidence Report from the Conference Board, which will be released on Tuesday.

Companies reporting earnings this week include Carnival Cruise Line, FedEx, Walgreens and Nike.

In the bond market, U.S. Treasury yields initially fell after a report suggested that trading activity among countries using the euro was weaker than economists expected. Concerns are already high for the continent in the run-up to French elections which could further shake the financial markets.

The weak economic activity report weighed on yields in Europe, which initially weighed on Treasury yields. But U.S. yields recovered much of those losses after another report indicated later in the morning that U.S. business activity could be stronger than expected.

Overall output growth rose to its highest level in 26 months, according to preliminary figures from S&P Global on activity at U.S. manufacturing and service companies. Perhaps more importantly for Wall Street, this strength could occur without a concomitant increase in inflation pressures.

In Europe at midday, France's CAC 40 gained 0.7%, Germany's DAX rose 0.9% and Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.5%.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index rose 0.5% to 38,804.65, making it the only major benchmark in Asia to post gains on Monday.

The yen weakened to 159.49 per dollar. The dollar closed at 159.77 yen on Friday.

The minutes of the latest policy meeting of Japanese central banks released on Monday put the yen under renewed pressure by indicating that any change in the key interest rate should only be considered after economic indicators confirm that, by example, the CPI inflation rate has clearly started to rebound. and medium- and long-term inflation expectations have increased.

At the same time, Masato Kanda, deputy minister of the Japanese Ministry of Finance, was reported to have said that the authorities were ready to intervene to support the currency at any time.

Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell less than 0.1% to 18,027.71, while the Shanghai Composite lost 1.2% to 2,963.10.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.8% to 7,733.70. South Korea's Kospi lost 0.7% to 2,764.73.

In other trading Monday, benchmark U.S. crude oil rose 33 cents to $81.06 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Brent crude added 39 cents to $84.72 a barrel.

The euro rose from $1.0693 to $1.0733.

The S&P 500 index slipped 0.2% to 5,464.62 on Friday, but remained near its all-time high set Tuesday and capped its eighth winning week in the last nine. The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up less than 0.1% to 39,150.33, while the Nasdaq composite fell 0.2% to 17,689.36.