Here are the most important news investors need to start their trading day:
1. Stock futures are lower to begin trading in August
A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), July 27, 2022.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
Stock futures are lower on Monday as Wall Street begins a new month after strong gains in July. The three main US stock indexes recorded their best months of the year. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 9.1% and 6.7% in July, respectively, their biggest monthly gains since November 2020. The Nasdaq Composite outperformed and ended a downgrade of three months of loss. The index rose 12.35% in July for its best month since April 2020, boosted by strong gains in the technology sector.
2. Oil prices fall ahead of OPEC+ meeting
OPEC+ has agreed to increase oil production by 648,000 barrels per day in July and August, a bigger-than-expected amount, as the war in Ukraine wreaks havoc on global energy markets.
Ian Tuttle | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Crude oil prices fell on Monday as energy markets digested poor factory data from China and Japan and prepared for OPEC and its oil-producing allies to decide on September output later this week . West Texas Intermediate futures, the U.S. oil benchmark, were down about 1.5 percent on Monday, while international benchmark Brent crude futures fell about 1.1 percent. WTI and Brent fell for a second straight month in July as recession worries weighed on prices, their first two-month losing streak since October 2020. The group known as OPEC+ will meet on Wednesday to discuss whether to keep September output plans steady or raise output modestly, according to Reuters.
3. Another busy earnings week is here
The logo of the Starbucks coffee shop is seen in one of its stores.
Stephen Zenner | LightRocket | Getty Images
It’s another earnings-filled week on Wall Street, after tech heavyweights including Apple and Amazon released quarterly numbers in recent days. In all, 148 S&P 500 companies are expected to report results over the next five days, including Caterpillar, JetBlue and Starbucks on Tuesday, followed by Yum Brands and Booking Holdings on Wednesday. In addition to the busy earnings list, the non-farm payrolls report for July will be released on Friday morning. Investors are anticipating this key labor market announcement as they look for more information on the health of the US economy amid recession worries.
4. Fed official: Inflation matters more than recession statement
Neel Kashkari, President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkari said Sunday that he has focused on inflation data, not arguments over whether the U.S. economy is in recession. While that discussion intensified late last week, when an advance estimate of second-quarter GDP showed a negative reading, the central bank official told CBS that he is now putting more emphasis on other economic data. “Whether we’re technically in a recession or not doesn’t change my analysis,” Kashkari said in an interview on “Face the Nation.” “I’m focused on the inflation data. I’m focused on the wage data. And so far, inflation continues to surprise us on the upside. Wages continue to grow.” CNBC’s Cameron Albert-Deitch has more on Kashkari’s comments here.
5. Google CEO: Employee productivity needs to improve
Google CEO Sundar Pichai speaks on a panel at the Americas CEO Summit hosted by the US Chamber of Commerce on June 9, 2022 in Los Angeles, California.
Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images
In a recent hands-on meeting, Google CEO Sundar Pichai told the tech giant’s employees that their productivity needs to improve and asked for their help in creating a “more mission-focused” culture, among other things . “It’s clear that we face a challenging macro environment with more uncertainty ahead,” Pichai said, adding later: “There are real concerns that our productivity as a whole is not where it needs to be for the count of people we have”. Read the full report from CNBC’s Jennifer Elias here.
— CNBC’s Jennifer Elias, Cameron Albert-Deitch, Patti Domm and Christopher Hayes contributed to this report. Reuters also contributed.
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