Wall Street set for lower open as sentiment remains under pressure

Wall Street equity futures pointed to a lower open on Monday, as market participants looked ahead of a key monetary policy symposium later this week.

The Federal Reserve is holding its annual Jackson Hole symposium, which gathers central bankers from all around the globe to discuss an specific topic.

There are no relevant economic reports expected on Monday. On Friday, the University of Michigan said consumer expectations for August moved to 89.0, above an initially estimated 81.0 reading. The consumer sentiment index came in at 97.6, beating a forecasted 94.0.

Last week, US stock indexes ended in red territory as Steve Bannon, one of Donald Trump’s top advisors, left his job in the administration over alleged tensions with other advisors to president, such as Chief Economic Advisor Gary Cohn and National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster. Bannon has been one of Trump’s main defenders on his nationalistic economic approach.

The Dow Jones industrial average was 76.22 points lower to close at 21,674.51. The S&P 500 eased 0.18 percent to 2,425.55. The Nasdaq composite fell 0.09 percent to 6,216.53.

• Dow Jones Industrial Average: -76.22 / -0.35% / 21674.51
• Standard & Poor’s 500: -4.46 / -0.18% / 2425.55
• Nasdaq Composite: -5.39 / -0.09% / 6216.53

Stock indexes came under pressure as concerns that President Donald Trump would not be able to push his pro-growth economic reforms in Congress weighed on sentiment.

Market sentiment was also affected by two terrorist attacks in Spain that left 14 dead and more than a hundred injured. Police said the terrorist cell working behind these attacks was “deactivated”. There are still some people in critical medical condition.

In other news, North Korea has threatened with a “merciless strike” as the US and South Korea begin war games in the Asia region. Kim Jong-un’s government said nor Guam, Hawaii or US continental territory could avoid a “merciless strike”.

Fort Financial Services