Stock index futures opened higher Sunday following Friday's session where stocks fell sharply ahead of the Federal Reserve's annual meeting later this week.
Analysts are expecting the Fed to raise interest rates from their historic lows during the meeting as the U.S. economy continues to recover from the near meltdown it experienced during the Great Recession in 2009.
The benchmark indexes all closed the week sharply down, with the S&P 500 falling 3.8% for the week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping 3.3%, while the Nasdaq dropped 4.1%. The S&P 500 and Dow are down for the year, while the Nasdaq remains higher. The energy sector was the worst performer on markets Friday, with the Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLE) falling 3.2%.
TheStreet's Jim Cramer told his "Mad Money" viewers that he will be keeping an eye out for more news about high-yield bond funds on Monday.
On Tuesday, 3M (MMM) will host an analyst meeting.
"I don't think this is the best moment in 3M's history, as it surely needs a better economy worldwide than it has right now," Cramer said. But despite this, he views the Action Alerts PLUS holding as a good core portfolio position because it's well-run and pays a solid dividend.
Wednesday's Federal Reserve meeting could send stocks reeling, Cramer said, which would be a buying opportunity for Accenture (ACN) and General Mills (GIS) two stocks that Cramer likes and are report earnings Thursday morning.
Cramer also likes Lennar (LEN), which reports earnings on Friday. But he is not a buyer of the stock so close to the Fed's rate decision.
On Friday, activist investor Carl Icahn tweeted "The meltdown in High Yield is just beginning" from his verified Twitter account, according to Bloomberg.
"Ichan's comments come as junk-bond investors, already stung by the worst losses ince 2008, are the most nervous they've been in three years after Third Avenue Management took the rare step of freezing withdrawals from a $788 million credit mutual fund," Cordell Eddings of Bloomberg wrote.
In international news, world leaders struck a climate change deal to overhaul energy policies worldwide at the United Nations over the weekend. The targets outlined in the agreement will require $16.5 trillion of spending on renenewable and efficiency through 2030, the International Energy Agency said, according to Bloomberg.
Investment firm Third Avenue Management has fired CEO David Barse, according to the Wall Street Journal. Last week, the firm prevented investors from withdrawing funds from its high yield bond fund. The firm intends to shutter its $789 million Focused Credit Fund, according to CNBC.
Barron's cover story this weekend centers on market strategists who say that stocks have room to rise 10% in 2016.
"With the Federal Reserve expected to start raising interest rates as soon as this week, and earnings growth likely to be restrained, the 10 strategists Barron's surveyed this month see moderate gains for the market in the year ahead," Barron's contributor Vito J. Racanelli wrote.
"Based on their mean forecast, the Standard & Poor's 500 index will end next year at 2220, an increase of 10% from Friday's close of 2012. An advance of that magnitude is more reflective of the market's rout last week, however, than undue exuberance among our prognosticators. To the contrary, the strategists were more cautious in their comments than in recent years past."
