Futures Pointing To Initial Strength On Wall Street

(RTTNews) - Stocks are likely to move to the upside in early trading on Monday, adding to the gains posted last week. The major index futures are currently pointing to a higher open for the markets, with the S&P 500 futures up by 0.3 percent.

The upward momentum on Wall Street comes amid an advance by shares of Nvidia (NVDA), as the AI darling and market leader is jumping by 2.2 percent in pre-market trading.

Nvidia is advancing after software giant Microsoft (MSFT) revealed it has secured export licenses from the Trump administration to ship Nvidia chips to the United Arab Emirates.

Overall trading activity may be somewhat subdued, however, as traders look ahead to the release of payroll processor ADP's report on private sector employment on Wednesday.

With the ongoing government shutdown indefinitely delaying several key U.S. economic reports, the ADP report could shed light on the strength of the labor market amid uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates.

Not long after the start of trading, the Institute for Supply Management is scheduled to release its report on manufacturing activity in the month of October. The ISM's manufacturing PMI is expected to inch up to 49.5 in October from 49.1 in September, but a reading below 50 would still indicate contraction.

After showing a strong move to the upside early in the session, stocks saw considerable volatility over the course of the trading day on Friday.

The major averages pulled back off their early highs in mid-day trading before moving back to the upside only to once again give back ground going into the end the session.

Despite the late-day pullback, the major averages all ended the day in positive territory. The Nasdaq climbed 143.81 points or 0.6 percent to 23,724.96, the S&P 500 rose 17.86 points or 0.3 percent to 6,840.20 and the Dow inched up 40.75 points or 0.1 percent to 47,562.87.

For the week, the tech-heavy Nasdaq surged by 2.2 percent, while the Dow and the S&P 500 advanced by 0.8 percent and 0.7 percent, respectively.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher on Monday, with the Japanese markets closed for a holiday. China's Shanghai Composite Index climbed by 0.6 percent, while South Korea's Kospi shot up by 2.8 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets are turning in a mixed performance on the day. The German DAX Index is up by 0.8 percent, although the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is just below the unchanged line and the French CAC 40 Index is down by 0.1 percent.

In commodities trading, crude oil futures are inching up $0.03 to $61.01 a barrel after climbing $0.41 to $60.98 barrel last Friday. Meanwhile, after falling $19.40 to $3,996.50 an ounce in the previous session, gold futures are jumping $30.70 to $4,027.40 an ounce.

On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 154.25 yen versus the 154.00 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Friday. Against the euro, the dollar is trading at $1.1510 compared to last Friday's $1.1534.