Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York City, U.S., Sept. 29, 2026.
Jeenah Moon | Reuters
Stock futures rose on Sunday evening as traders look toward a slew of central bank decisions this week.
S&P 500 futures were up 0.4% while Dow Jones Industrial Average futures added 128 points, or 0.2%. Nasdaq-100 futures gained 0.6%.
The U.S. Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan will all announce their rate decisions this week on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, respectively.
Asian markets were mixed on Monday. The broad based Topix was up 0.37%, but the benchmark Nikkei 225 lost 0.2%. South Korea’s Kospi declined 0.3%, while the the small-cap Kosdaq saw a larger loss, dropping 1.18%.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was 0.26% lower.
Oil prices were lower on Monday in Asia, with Brent futures falling 1.31% to trade at $115.19 a barrel while U.S. West Texas Intermediate slid 1.5% to $101.83 per barrel.
Brent crude had hit its highest level since April last Friday amid news reports that the U.S. and Israel could be planning to launch strikes on Iran after the midterm elections.
Higher oil prices and a broadening sell-off that hit many market sectors dragged the three major averages to losses on Friday. The Dow fell more than 650 points, while the S&P 500 lost 0.5%. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.2%
The sell-off also dragged the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq to back-to-back weekly losses.
France, whose 10-year bond yield touched 5% last week for the first time since 2002, got a reprieve from recent turmoil after Moody’s decided to maintain its Aa3 credit rating and negative outlook on the nation. Traders feared that the nation, the second-largest economy in the euro zone, would be heading for a downgrade amid its surging borrowing costs.
“A significant and sustained fiscal effort will still be needed beyond the presidential elections of April and May 2027 to bring France’s public finances onto stronger footing and stabilise a debt burden that will exceed 120% of GDP in 2027,” the agency said Friday.
Moody’s added it could upgrade France’s outlook to stable if the country’s institutions can reduce the deficit.
Traders are awaiting the Federal Reserve’s decision on Wednesday. Fed funds futures trading suggests a 90% likelihood that policy makers will hold interest rates at the current target range of 3.75% to 4%.
Bank of America expects the Federal Reserve will raise rates by a quarter percentage point, noting it would be a “heavy lift” move.
“The Oct decision will be a test of Chair Warsh’s resolve to bring ‘sea change’ to the Fed’s forward guidance strategy,” said Bank of America economist Claudio Irigoyen in a research note. “Warsh’s challenge at the presser will be to head off a ‘policy error’ trade. If the Fed hikes, investors might worry about overtightening. If the Fed holds, markets could question the Fed’s inflation-fighting credibility.”