Stock futures opened slightly higher Monday evening following a rally during the regular trading day, with technology stocks outperforming as concerns over rising inflation were at least temporarily pushed to the side.
Contracts on the S&P 500 ticked up after the index closed out the session higher by 1%. Contracts on the Nasdaq also rose after the index rallied 1.4%. The move higher in technology stocks came alongside a move lower in Treasury yields, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year note hovering just above 1.6%. Cryptocurrency prices largely held onto gains following last week’s selloff, and Bitcoin prices (BTC-USD) rose 12% to more than $38,800 Monday evening in New York.
Though Monday’s session offered an at least brief respite for investors after last week’s equity selling, some strategists still struck a cautious tone on stocks, given the still-elevated concerns around inflation.
“Right now everyone knows they should be worried about inflation and inflationary pressures and what that could mean in terms of a monetary response, or also companies’ profitability,” Shawn Cruz, senior market strategist at TD Ameritrade, told Yahoo Finance on Monday. “If they decide to keep those rising input costs on their balance sheet, then great, we’re not going to see inflation rise at least on the consumer side, but we might see margins come in when [second-quarter] earnings come out.”
