US stock futures were volatile at the start of trading on Monday, as investors braced for a busy week of economic data and corporate earnings announcements, following a turbulent week that ended with the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing at a new record high above 50,000 points.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures traded between modest gains and losses, while Standard & Poor's 500 futures fell 0.2% and tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures declined 0.4%.
US bond prices fell on Monday after Chinese regulators urged local banks to reduce their holdings of US debt amid concerns about market volatility.
Gold returns above $5,000 and stocks recover after a week of losses.
Meanwhile, gold prices climbed above $5,000 an ounce as buyers returned to take advantage of dips after a volatile week in the precious metals markets, while Bitcoin fell below $70,000 after the sharp movements it witnessed during the past week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged more than 1,200 points, or 2.5%, on Friday, marking its first-ever close above 50,000 points, having briefly surpassed that level during the session. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite also finished nearly 2% higher, as Wall Street recovered from a week of sharp losses led by technology stocks.
Software stocks bore the brunt of the pressure last week, amid a general risk aversion resulting from the huge leaps in spending on artificial intelligence technologies, with Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft planning to spend a total of about $650 billion in a technology development race that has yet to have a clear winner.
A busy week for jobs, inflation, and corporate earnings
This market recovery comes ahead of a busy week of key economic data, headlined by the January employment figures, due Wednesday after being postponed from last Friday due to the partial US government shutdown. Expectations appear cautious, after the ADP report showed only 22,000 private-sector jobs added last month, compared to 140,000 in the same period a year earlier.
Investors are also awaiting the release of the January Consumer Price Index (CPI) data on Friday, which was also delayed due to the government shutdown. On the corporate earnings front, Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Cisco, and ON Semiconductor are all expected to report their results this week.
These data and business results will help shape market expectations regarding the future path of US interest rates, as investors monitor how monetary policy develops following US President Donald Trump's selection of former Federal Reserve member Kevin Warsh to succeed Jerome Powell as head of the central bank.
Although Kevin Warsh is widely regarded as a monetary policy hawk and held positions within the Federal Reserve during the 2008 global financial crisis, his nomination has given the dollar only a temporary, short-term boost, with the dollar index down about 10% since Donald Trump took office.
