Stock index futures opened sharply lower Sunday evening after a mixed and muted session on Friday that punctuated a wild week of volatility that saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average move about 10,000 points up and down for the week in total.
Tonight, Dow futures were down 91 points, or about 0.55% in New York, and S&P 500 E-mini futures were down 0.59%. Nasdaq 100 E-mini futures fell 0.61%. The U.S. Dollar Index (.DXY) ticked up 0.01%.
Over the weekend, Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer joined other central bank officials Saturday on a panel at the Kansas City Fed's annual retreat in Jackson Hole and said there is "good reason" to expect inflation to rise and stabilize as the American economy grows stronger.
"Given the apparent stability of inflation expectations, there is good reason to believe that inflation will move higher as the forces holding down inflation dissipate further," Fischer said.
"With inflation low, we can probably remove accommodation at a gradual pace," Fischer noted. "Yet, because monetary policy influences real activity with a substantial lag, we should not wait until inflation is back to 2% to begin tightening," he added.
That indicates a hike sooner rather than later. But what about a hike as soon as next month? Fischer left open the option of an increase, but he didn't express a preference for action that soon.
Separately, executives at Bank of New York Mellon (BK) were reportedly racing to fix pricing glitches before the markets open tomorrow morning, the Wall Street Journal reported.
An arbitrator ruled that an alliance between Suzuki Motor and VW has been terminated and ordered the German carmaker to dispose of its 19.9% stake in Suzuki, the Journal also reported.
And Eni SpA discovered a "super giant" natural gas field offshore Egypt in what the Italian oil company said is the largest find in the Mediterranean Sea, Bloomberg reported.
Looking ahead, we'll be watching the Chicago PMI number on Monday for any more clues on Fed action and the fate of interest rates.
On Tuesday, we turn our attention back to earnings, with Dollar Tree (DLTR) and semiconductor maker Ambarella (AMBA) reporting. TheStreet's Jim Cramer still likes Dollar Tree, despite a rare miss from rival Dollar General (DG), but said he believes that Ambarella might be struggling in a tough market like this.
On Wednesday, watch for reports from G-III Apparel (GIII) and Five Below (FIVE) and the latest oil inventory numbers. Cramer was a fan of G-III, especially on a pullback, and sees some opportunity with Five Below. Although he said that investors should consider trimming positions in any oil stocks ahead of the inventory numbers.
On Thursday, Campbell's Soup (CPB), Medtronic (MDT) and Verifone (PAY) report. Cramer was bullish on all three. And while he was not bullish on coal equipment maker Joy Global (JOY), he said this company could offer some insight into China on its conference call.
Finally, on Friday, we'll be watching the nonfarm payroll numbers from the Labor Department. If the economy has picked up, then expect stocks to sell off, which of course could create a sweet spot for buying opportunities for the right stocks.
Separately, Barron's' cover story this weekend said that the worst may be over from last week's selloff. U.S. blue chip stocks with good dividends like General Electric (GE), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Merck (MRK) and BlackRock (BLK) offer value plus income and are one of the most attractive plays in this market, Barron's noted.
But if you still want to get in on a high-powered growth name (albeit with no dividend), Action Alerts PLUS holding Google (GOOGL) still has 20% upside, Barron's said. A pickup in revenue, namely from YouTube and higher margins from cost cutting should boost the stock, the publication reported.
For even more information on data and earnings in the week ahead, read this article by fellow Real Money contributors Lenore Hawkins and Chris Versace and reference The Street's weekly earnings calendar.
