(RTTNews) - After ending last Friday's trading mostly lower, stocks may move back to the upside in early trading on Monday. The major index futures are currently pointing to a higher open for the markets, with the Dow futures up by 80 points.
Optimism about additional fiscal stimulus may generate early buying interest after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Republicans have finalized their new coronavirus relief legislation.
Mnuchin told "Fox News Sunday" the GOP intends to introduce the $1 trillion bill on Monday after delaying the planned rollout last week.
Despite the vast gap in the price tags of the Republican plan and a $3 trillion bill passed by the Democrat-controlled House, Mncuhin said he expects lawmakers can move "very quickly" to address the differences.
"We've moved quickly before and I see no reason why we can't move quickly again," Mnuchin said. "And if there are issues that take longer, we'll deal with those as well."
In a separate interview with CNN's "State Of The Union," White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow said the GOP relief bill includes another $1,200 stimulus payment to Americans.
Traders may also react positively to a Commerce Department report showing durable goods orders continued to move sharply higher in the month of June.
The Commerce Department said durable goods orders surged up by 7.3 percent in June after skyrocketing by a downwardly revised 15.1 percent in May. The continued increase comes following the nosedive seen in March and April.
Economists had expected durable goods orders to soar by 7.2 percent compared to the 15.7 percent spike that had been reported for the previous month.
Excluding another substantial increase in orders for transportation equipment, durable goods orders still jumped by 3.3 percent in June after shooting up by 3.6 percent in May. Ex-transportation orders were expected to surge up by 3.5 percent.
Stocks fluctuated after an initial move to the downside but maintained a negative bias throughout the trading session on Friday. With the drop on the day, the major averages extended the sharp pullback seen in afternoon trading on Thursday.
The major averages finished the day off their lows of the session but still firmly in negative territory. The Dow slid 182.44 points or 0.7 percent to 26,469.89, the Nasdaq slumped 98.24 points or 0.9 percent to 10,363.18 and the S&P 500 fell 20.03 points or 0.6 percent to 3,215.63.
For the week, the tech-heavy Nasdaq tumbled by 1.3 percent, the Dow sank by 0.8 percent and the S&P 500 dipped by 0.3 percent.
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance during trading on Monday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index slipped by 0.2 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index rose by 0.3 percent.
The major European markets have also turned mixed on the day. While the German DAX Index is up by 0.1 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is down by 0.3 percent and the French CAC 40 Index is down by 0.4 percent.
In commodities trading, crude oil futures are climbing $0.25 to $41.54 a barrel after rising $0.22 to $41.29 a barrel last Friday. Meanwhile, after advancing $7.50 to a record closing high of $1,897.50 an ounce in the previous session, gold futures are spiking $29.20 to $1,927.70 an ounce.
On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 105.41 yen versus the 106.14 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Friday. Against the euro, the dollar is trading at $1.1742 compared to last Friday's $1.1656.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
