Dow futures higher; Jackson Hole in spotlight, Palo Alto surges

U.S. stock futures rose Monday, rebounding after a negative week with investors looking for guidance from the Federal Reserve’s annual get-together at Jackson Hole.

By 06:30 ET (10:30 GMT), the Dow futures contract was up 125 points, or 0.4%, S&P 500 futures traded 20 points, or 0.5% higher, and Nasdaq 100 futures climbed 85 points, or 0.6%.

The main equities indices retreated last week as investors digested rising bond yields and economic weakness out of China.

The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 2.2% last week, while the broad-based S&P 500 fell 2.1%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lost 2.6%, both recording their third consecutive losing week.

PBOC cuts one-year interest rate
However, the new week has started with a more positive tone, helped by the news that the People’s Bank of China has cut its one-year loan prime rate by 10 basis points to 3.45%.

While more had been expected, including a cut of the important five-year rate, this comes after the PBOC cut its short-term loan rates, as well as its medium-term lending facility rates last week, and shows Beijing is actively looking to support its faltering economy.

Jackson Hole symposium in spotlight
The U.S. Federal Reserve is also very much the focus of attention, with its policymakers set to gather at an annual symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming at the end of the week.

Friday’s speech by Chair Jerome Powell will be the highlight as investors look for clarity on the economic outlook and the future path of interest rates.

This comes after last week’s minutes of the central bank’s July meeting showed that most policymakers are still concerned about upside risks to inflation, indicating that further rate hikes cannot be ruled out.

Zoom starts new week of results
Video conferencing service Zoom Video Communications (NASDAQ:ZM) is set to deliver its latest quarterly results after the bell on Monday, kicking off a fresh week of corporate returns.

Once a pandemic-era powerhouse driven by remote working, Zoom has been hit by more workers coming back to physical offices, along with rising competition from similar offerings backed by big-name players like Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL).

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) stock soared over 12% higher premarket after the cybersecurity company delivered an upbeat outlook for the current quarter late Friday, touting further strength in billings growth.

Crude gains on tight supplies
Oil prices rose Monday, rebounding after last week’s selling, helped in part by the Chinese rate cut and also by expectations of lower output from a group of top producers in August.

The crude market weakened last week, ending a 7-week winning streak, on concerns higher U.S. interest rates and China’s slowing economic recovery will hit oil demand.

However, the prospect of tighter supplies, following deep output cuts from Saudi Arabia and Russia this year, the two leading producers in the group known as OPEC+, have helped support prices.

By 06:30 ET, the U.S. crude futures traded 1% higher at $81.47 a barrel, while the Brent contract climbed 1% to $85.61.

Additionally, gold futures edged lower to $1,916.20/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.2% higher at 1.0896.