U.S. stock futures were steady Monday night as traders braced for what could be a tough month after a strong but volatile August, with jobs data and the path to the Federal Reserve's interest rate cut decision this month awaiting optimism.
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 15 points. S&P 500 futures rose 0.1%.
Nasdaq 100 futures were up 0.2%.
US markets were closed on Monday for the Labor Day holiday.
Major averages are coming off a winning session, securing gains for the month. The S&P 500 rose 2.3% in August, its fourth straight monthly gain. The Dow advanced 1.8% and the Nasdaq gained about 0.7% during that period.
The moves came after a sharp selloff early last month. Concerns about a U.S. recession, coupled with the unwinding of a popular hedge fund trade involving the Japanese yen, sent stocks tumbling in early August. At one point, the S&P 500 fell more than 7% during the month before recovering.
In context, Henry Allen, a strategist at Deutsche Bank, wrote: “August got off to an incredibly rough start. But after August 5, calm began to return to the markets. This was helped in part by more positive data on the US economy, which helped ease fears of an impending recession.”
Investors will get their first major economic report of the month on Friday, when the U.S. government releases its August jobs report.
Wall Street will also have to contend with seasonal headwinds, with September being the worst month on average for the S&P 500 over the past 10 years.
