Stock market today: Wall Street poised for gains following markets’ worst week in almost 18 months

Coming off the worst trading week in close to a year-and-a-half, markets on Wall Street are poised to rebound at the opening bell Monday.

Futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.7% in premarket trading.

Boeing rose 4.1% after the aerospace company and its largest union reached agreement on a new contract that, if ratified, will avoid a strike that threatened to shut down aircraft production by the end of the week.

Boeing said 33,000 workers represented by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers would get pay raises of 25% over the four-year contract.

Discount retailer Big Lots has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and plans to sell its assets and ongoing business operations to private equity firm Nexus Capital Management. Its shares jumped more than 9% on Friday after the company said it would postponed the release of its second-quarter earnings. Trading of Big Lots shares was suspended before markets opened Monday.

Later Monday, Apple will unveil its highly-anticipated iPhone 16. The new phone is the first model to be tailored specifically for artificial intelligence, with expected improvements to its often dim-witted virtual assistant, Siri. Apple shares were basically unchanged before the bell Monday.

The final government inflation report arrives this week before the Federal Reserve’s next policy meeting. Most expect the U.S. central bank to issue its first interest rate cut in more than four years when it meets next week. The Fed cranked up rates beginning in March of 2022 in a bid to stymie the four-decade high inflation that bloomed as the U.S. economy rebounded from the brief but sharp pandemic recession.

In Europe at midday, France’s CAC 40 rose 0.7%, while Germany’s DAX and Britain’s FTSE 100 each added 0.6%.

The Nikkei 225 index was hovering around its lowest level in almost a month during morning trading, and it slipped 0.5% to close at 36,215.75. Japan’s gross domestic product grew by an annualized 2.9% in the second quarter, according to revised data from the Cabinet Office released on Monday. This was below expectations.

“Any broader risk aversion may have an amplified effect on Japanese equities, with safe-haven flows potentially supporting the yen, which is looked upon as negative for the country’s exporters,” Yeap Jun Rong, market strategist at IG, said in a commentary.

The U.S. dollar was trading at 143.57 Japanese yen Monday morning. The euro cost $1.1044, down from $1.1083.

Stocks in Chinese markets also racked up losses after worse-than-expected inflation data disappointed investors. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics on Monday showed deflationary pressure continues to loom large, as the consumer price index grew by 0.6% year-on-year in August, while the producer price index, which measures costs for manufacturing, was down 1.8% compared to August last year.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index declined 1.4% to 17,196.96 and the Shanghai Composite index was down 1.1%, at 2,736.49.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dipped 0.3% to 7,988.10. South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.3% to 2,535.93.

In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude rose 91 cents to $68.58 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, added 86 cents to $71.92 a barrel.

On Friday, the S&P 500 dropped 1.7% and ended at 5,408.42 to close out its worst week since March 2023. Broadcom, Nvidia and other tech companies drove the market lower amid ongoing concerns that their prices soared too high in the boom around artificial intelligence, and they dragged the Nasdaq composite down by a market-leading 2.6% to 16,690.83.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1% to 40,345.41.

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