US index futures are down 0.1% to 0.5% with NASDAQ futures the weakest, in what appears to me common backing and filling coming off of two days of strong gains for stocks late last week, including advances of 0.1% to 1.9% led by the NASDAQ. Overseas, the Das is up 0.5% and the FTSE is up 0.4%.
Commodity action is mixed today with natural gas rallying 6.0% but WTI crude oil falling 0.9% and copper sliding 1.9%. Gold is down 0.3%, while Bitcoin is up 3.6% as the cryptocurrency market deals with the impact of the bankruptcy of crypto exchange FTX, including calls for more regulation in that marketplace. .
G-20 leaders are meeting in Indonesia today through Wednesday and this morning US President Biden is having a summit meeting with Chinese President Xi. The COP 27 climate change meeting in Egypt enters its second week. Usually these types of meetings don’t have much impact on markets as communiques are generally anticipated in advance but given the political and economic volatility this year, investors need to be ready for anything.
This week the spotlight shifts to retailers. Retail sales numbers are due from China (tonight), the US (Wednesday) and the UK (Friday). In addition, many of the biggest US retailers report results this week including Walmart, Target, Lowes, Home Depot, Macys and others. In addition to the headline numbers, investors may look to companies for insights related to the outlook for the upcoming Black Friday and holiday season, whether they are increasing or decreasing staff, and whether or not they are continuing to cancel orders. A number of housing related reports are due this week for the US and Canada which could influence sentiment toward homebuilders, forest products producers and potentially banks or mortgage lenders.
