Last Week's Close

E-mini S&P 500 Futures (September): Settled at 3307, down 63.75 on Friday and down 52.50 on the week

E-mini Nasdaq-100 Futures (September): Settled at 9865.50, down 222.75 on Friday and down 58.00 on the week

U.S. benchmarks opened lower Sunday night but have pared losses, turning positive ahead of the opening bell.

A record rise in Covid-19 cases across the U.S. last week weighed on risk-sentiment. This steepening curve halted the reopening process in many southern states, but with price action turning, investors seem to be more focused on the slowing rate of infections over the weekend.

Social boycotts are also adding tremendous pressure to the tape. Companies including Verizon, Coca-Cola and Starbucks have either halted or plan to pause all social media advertising because platforms have “failed to stop the spread of hate.” Facebook and Twitter lost 8.3% and 7.4% respectively Friday and are each down another 2.5% premarket. Traders must keep a pulse on this narrative as it could quickly become more dominant amid a risk-off wave. 

There is a jam-packed economic calendar in this holiday shortened week. Today, sentiment data from the Eurozone was just below expectations, although the closely watched German reads broadly improved last week. CPI data from Germany this morning was stronger than expected. Today is a bit quieter overall. From the U.S. we had Pending Home Sales at 9:00 a.m. CT and Dallas Fed Manufacturing at 9:30 a.m. CT. Tonight, June Chinese Manufacturing PMI will be out at 8:00 pm CT and this leads into U.K. GDP, Eurozone CPI, and U.S. Consumer Confidence Tuesday. ISM Manufacturing is Wednesday, and Nonfarm Payroll has moved up to Thursday to avoid Friday’s holiday hours.

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