US pre-open: Stocks seen up as oil prices recover; retailers in focus
US stocks looked set for a positive open on Monday as oil prices bounced back from last week's losses.
At 1220 GMT, Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 futures were up 1.1% and 1.2%, respectively, and Nasdaq futures were 1.6% higher.
Investors were likely to be mulling developments across the pond after UK Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit plan was signed off at the EU summit on Sunday and as Italian PM Matteo Salvini signalled over the weekend that the country may lower its contentious borrowing target.
Energy-related shares were likely to be active as oil prices recovered after Friday's plunge and ahead of next week's OPEC meeting. West Texas Intermediate pushed up 1% to $50.93 a barrel and Brent crude gained 1.8% to $59.86.
Still, Oanda analyst Craig Erlam pointed out that the gains pale in comparison to the losses seen last week.
"Trump has been publicly pressuring the group (OPEC) to let prices fall while praising Saudi Arabia for its role in the falls, something sceptics have tied to the President apparently turning a blind eye to the country’s role in the Khashoggi murder," said Erlam.
"There is perhaps a belief that the Saudis will avoid taking measures to significantly raise prices next week in a bid to appease Trump, although I remain sceptical this will happen."
Retailers were also set to be in focus as data from Adobe Analytics showed that online sales hit a record $6.22bn on Black Friday, rising 24% from a year ago.
"If this pattern extends into today’s Cyber Monday then the US economy could well sustain its decent performance over the last two quarters right into the end of the year," said CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson.
"Amazon reported that customers were shopping at record levels, with the Apple Watch selling out at Target, while Samsung TV’s, Dell laptops and GoPro camera were also popular, largely due to some heavy discounting."
Amazon shares were up 2.2% in pre-market trade.
On the data front, the Chicago Fed national activity index is at 1330 GMT and the Dallas Fed manufacturing business index is at 1530 GMT.
More broadly, market participants will be eyeing the G20 meeting in Buenos Aires at the end of the week, where it's expected that President Trump and China's Xi Jinping will discuss trade.
"Expectations remain low about a solution in the short term with the prospect that tariffs could well increase at the beginning of next year from the current 10% to an increased rate of 25%," said Hewson. "While deal expectations have been set to a low level, an agreement to not implement the proposed increased rate at the beginning of next year could be described as progress."