Wall Street futures pointed to lower open on Monday after a largely expected victory in the French presidential election by pro-European centrist Emmanuel Macron failed to impress investors and weakness in Chinese trade data brought up concerns of global demand in a session that was expected to be light on references.
The blue-chip Dow futures fell 23 points, or 0.11%, at 6:58AM ET (10:58GMT), the S&P 500 futures slipped 2 points, or 0.07%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 3 points, or 0.05%.
Macron beat anti-EU, anti-immigration far-rightist Marine Le Pen to clinch the French presidency in the second round of voting on Sunday.
With virtually all votes counted, results showed Macron had topped 66% against just under 34% for Le Pen, delivering a result that most investors were hoping for.
The victory for Macron signaled that political risks in France and across Europe are receding, in the wake of the populist surge which resulted in Brexit and propelled Donald Trump to the White House.
The widely expected victory failed to impress investors and European equities spent most of Monday in negative territory.
In other headlines, Chinese imports slowed much more than expected in April, while export growth more than halved in a sign that global trade momentum may be slipping.
Overall, China said exports rose 8.0% in April year-on-year, below the 10.4% gain seen, while imports rose 11.9% also below the 18.0% gain expected for a trade balance surplus of $38.05 billion, wider than the $35.50 billion seen.
The U.S. will be releasing no major economic reports on Monday though investors will pay attention to appearances from St. Louis Federal Reserve (Fed) president James Bullard and Cleveland Fed chief Loretta Mester later in the day.
With over 400 S&P 500 firms having already reported first quarter earnings, market players will pay attention to the winding down of the season.
The AES Corporation (NYSE:AES), Jd.Com Inc (NASDAQ:JD), Marriott International Inc (NASDAQ:MAR) or Sysco (NYSE:SYY) were among companies set to release earnings on Monday.
In other company news, Coach announced that it will acquire Kate Spade for $18.50 per share in cash for a total transaction value of $2.4 billion.
Meanwhile, oil underwent choppy trade on Monday, wavering back and forth across the unchanged mark as market participants weighed increased production stateside against speculation that major oil producers could extend their agreement to curb output beyond 2017.
Russia said on Monday it was discussing prolonging cuts with other producers beyond 2017, without giving a clear timeline. Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih also talked of the possibility of prolonging curbs beyond 2017.
Countering those efforts, U.S. drillers added oil rigs for a 16th week in a row last week, extending a drilling recovery into a 12th month, energy services firm Baker Hughes Inc said on Friday.
U.S. crude futures slipped 0.04% to $46.20 by 6:59AM ET (10:59GMT), while Brent oil dropped 0.010% to $49.05.
