Stock Futures Slip From Record Highs; Potential Government Shutdown Weighs

U.S. stock futures pointed lower early Monday after major indexes ended last week at record highs. Futures associated with the Nasdaq were down 0.4%, while  Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 futures were 0.3% lower.

After the Federal Reserve last week elected to cut interest rates for the first time this year, market watchers will be eager for clues about whether more cuts are in store in the coming months. Several data points slated for this week should offer insight, including Friday’s scheduled release of the Fed’s preferred inflation measure, the Personal Consumption Expenditures index.

Weighing on markets to begin the week is a potential U.S. government shutdown, after dueling bills to keep federal operations running were shot down in the Senate on Friday. Safe-haven gold futures were up about 1.5% to trade at an all-time high around $3,760, while riskier assets like cryptocurrencies sold off. Bitcoin was down more than 2% at below $113,000, while Ether was nearly 7% lower at below $4,200.

Shares of Amazon (AMZN), Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL), Meta Platforms (META), and Microsoft (MSFT) all edged lower in premarket trading. The firms have many employees who are recipients of H-1B visas, and the Trump administration announced over the weekend that it would be adding a $100,000 fee to new applications.

Pfizer (PFE) stock advanced 1.5% on news it was acquiring weight-loss drug developed Metsera (MTSR) for up to $7.3 billion. Metsera shares soared roughly 60%.

The 10-year Treasury yield, which affects borrowing costs on a variety of consumer and commercial loans, was flat at 4.13%. West Texas Intermediate futures, the U.S. crude oil benchmark, were down 0.4% at $62.40 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the value of the greenback against a basket of foreign currencies and hit its lowest level since early 2022 Wednesday, slipped 0.2% to 97.50.