U.S. Stocks May Lack Direction Ahead Of Fed Meeting, Key Earnings & Economic Data

Stocks may show a lack of direction in early trading on Monday, extending the lackluster performance seen in the previous session. The major index futures are currently pointing to a roughly flat open for the markets, with the S&P 500 futures down by less than a tenth of a percent.

Traders may be reluctant to make significant ahead of several key events this week, including the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy announcement on Wednesday.

While the Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, traders will be looking for clues about the likelihood of rate cuts at upcoming meetings.

Recent economic data has led many economists to believe the Fed is unlikely to cut rates in March, as traders had previously hoped.

The Labor Department’s closely watched monthly jobs report is also due to be released later this week along with reports on initial jobless claims, labor productivity and costs and manufacturing activity.

Earnings news is also likely to remain in focus this week, with tech giants Microsoft (MSFT), Apple (AAPL), Meta (META) and Alphabet (GOOGL) among the companies due to report their quarterly results.

After trending higher over the past several sessions, stocks turned in a relatively lackluster performance during trading on Friday. The major averages bounced back and forth across the unchanged line before eventually closing narrowly mixed.

While the S&P 500 edged down 3.19 points or 0.1 percent to 4,890.97 and the Nasdaq fell 55.13 points or 0.4 percent to 15,455.36, the narrower Dow rose 60.30 points or 0.2 percent to a new record closing high of 38,109.43.

Despite the mixed performance on the day, the major averages all moved higher for the week. While the S&P 500 jumped by 1.1 percent, the Nasdaq advanced by 0.9 percent and the Dow climbed by 0.7 percent.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher during trading on Monday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index both advanced by 0.8…