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U.S. equity futures moved firmly higher Monday, while the dollar added to gains against its global peers and Treasury yields steadied, as investors looked for first reactions to last week’s inflation data and braced for a series of labor-market releases over the coming days.
Updated at 7:47 AM EDT
Going Postal
United Parcel Service (UPS) shares jumped higher in early trading after the package delivery group wrested control of a key a air cargo account with the United States Postal Service from rival FedEx (FDX) .
The contract, which has been with FedEx for the past 22 years, is set to change hands later this year following months of contentious negotiations over costs and performance.
UPS shares were last marked 2.05% higher at $151.68 each while FedEx slumped 2.33% to $283.00 each.
Source: FedEx investor relations
Stock Market Today
Stocks ended on a high note last week, heading into the Good Friday closure, with the S&P 500 booking its second consecutive quarterly gain of more than 10% for the first time since 2011 while adding to its five-month winning streak.
Friday’s inflation data, which showed a modest easing in monthly readings for both the headline and core PCE Price Index, the Federal Reserve’s preferred gauge, looks set to add more fuel to the market’s record run.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, in fact, told an event in San Francisco Friday that while the numbers were “not as low as most of the good readings we got in the second half of last year,” the broader inflation track is “definitely more along the lines of what we want to see.”
His comments boosted bets that the Fed would put in place the first of its three forecast rate cuts in June, with the CME Group’s FedWatch pegging the odds at around 66%.
Benchmark 2-year Treasury note yields, the most sensitive to interest-rate changes, were marked 2 basis points lower at 4.599% heading into the New York trading session, while 10-year notes held steady at 4.211%.
The U.S. dollar index was marked 0.03% higher against a basket of its global peers at 104.576 while gold prices printed a fresh all-time high of $2,262.19 in overnight dealing
The market’s renewed dovishness, however, is likely to be tested by a series of labor-market-data releases, including job openings for the month of February and the March nonfarm payrolls report, over the coming week.
A light calendar of earnings releases is also on tap, with JPMorgan (JPM) set to kick off the first-quarter reporting season on April 12.
On Wall Street, futures tied to the S&P 500, which ended the first quarter with a 10.16% gain, are priced for a 17-point opening bell gain while those linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average are priced for a 120-point advance.
Dow component 3M (MMM) slumped 14.7% in early trading after the industrial and technology group’s $10.3 billion settlement with public water suppliers to pay for the damage caused by so-called forever chemicals received final approval from a U.S. District Court in South Carolina.
The tech-focused Nasdaq, which booked a first-quarter gain of 9.11%, is looking at a 97-point advance to start the trading week.
In Europe, the bulk of major markets remained closed for the Easter Monday holiday after the regionwide Stoxx 600 ended the quarter with a 7% gain and a five-month winning streak.
Overnight in Asia, stronger-than-expected economic activity data from China, including both private sector and official readings, helped domestic stocks start the week with solid gains. Holiday-thinned trading in other markets held the regionwide MSCI ex-Japan index to a 0.02% advance.
In Japan, the renewed threat of intervention in the yen, which remains within touching distance of a 34-year low against the U.S. dollar, kept stocks on the back foot on the first day of trading in the new fiscal year. The Nikkei 225 fell 1.4% in Tokyo.
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