U.S. stock futures fell on Monday following Friday’s positive moves. Futures of major benchmark indices were lower.

On Sunday, President Donald Trump said media mogul Lachlan Murdoch and tech leaders Oracle Corp.‘s (NYSE:ORCL) co-founder Larry Ellison and Dell Technologies Inc.‘s (NYSE:DELL) CEO Michael Dell will take part as investors in a proposed deal to transfer TikTok‘s U.S. operations from Chinese parent ByteDance to American ownership.

Speaking on Fox News’ Sunday Briefing, Trump praised the group and called them “American patriots,” reported Reuters. He also credited TikTok with helping him connect with younger voters during the 2024 presidential race.

On Friday, Trump confirmed he had spoken with Chinese President Xi Jinping, calling the conversation progress, and said the two leaders would meet at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea on Oct. 31.

Meanwhile, the 10-year Treasury bond yielded 4.12% and the two-year bond was at 3.57%. The CME Group's FedWatch tool‘s projections show markets pricing a 91.9% likelihood of the Federal Reserve cutting the current interest rates in its October meeting.

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) and Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (NASDAQ:QQQ), which track the S&P 500 index and Nasdaq 100 index, respectively, fell in premarket on Monday. The SPY was down 0.24% at $662.11, while the QQQ fell 0.38% to $597.07, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Cues From Last Session

Information technology, utilities, and communication services stocks recorded the biggest gains on Friday, as most sectors on the S&P 500 closed on a positive note. However, energy and real estate stocks bucked the overall market trend, closing the session lower. U.S. stocks settled higher, with the Dow Jones index hitting a fresh record high.

For the week, the S&P 500 gained 1.2%, while the Dow added 1% and the Nasdaq surged 2.2%.

Among mega-cap movers, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) jumped 3.2% on strong demand for the new iPhone 17. In China, preorders topped those of the iPhone 16 in just one minute, helping Apple shares climb above $245 to their highest level since late February 2025.

On the economic front, the Baker Hughes oil rig count rose by 2 to 418 in the latest week.

The Dow Jones index ended 173 points or 0.37% higher at 46,315.27, whereas the S&P 500 index rose 0.49% to 6,664.36. Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.72% to 22,631.48, and the small-cap gauge, Russell 2000, tumbled 0.77% to end at 2,448.77.

Insights From Analysts

Economist Justin Wolfers believes Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is grappling with a significant policy dilemma stemming from President Trump’s trade and tariff actions.

"The problem that Powell faces right now is a very difficult one," Wolfers explained in an MSNBC interview. "It is that tariffs have caused a slowdown in economic activity and rising unemployment. And we've got high-and-rising inflation."

Wolfers pointed out that the combination of rising prices and slowing growth presents the Fed with contradictory signals. "They tell you to do different things. When you get higher inflation, you raise rates. When [the] economy [is] slowing, you lower rates," he said.

Rather than using monetary policy to address these conflicting forces, Wolfers offered a more direct solution: "get rid of the tariffs," stating, "That's what solves both of these problems."

He asserted that the Fed is limited in its power to fix structural problems originating from trade policy. "Monetary policy can't solve the problem that Trump has created," Wolfers concluded. "And so they're trying to mop up the mess. But [the] fundamental problem is White House and the tariff program."

Meanwhile, the downturn in new construction, according to the data released last week, prompted a stark warning from The Kobeissi Letter, which stated, "This signals fewer new homes will be built, tightening supply further… Housing is set to become even less affordable." –

The latest New Residential Construction report from the U.S. Census Bureau painted a bearish picture for August 2025. Building permits, a key indicator of future supply, fell 3.7% from July to an annualized rate of 1.3 million, the lowest level since May 2020. This marks the fifth consecutive monthly decline--the longest negative streak since the 2008 Financial Crisis. Meanwhile, housing starts plummeted 8.5% for the month.

The weakening housing data provided a clear rationale for the Federal Reserve's recent 25-basis-point rate cut. According to Jamie Cox, Managing Partner for Harris Financial Group, the numbers were "cooperating for the Fed to adjust rates."

However, the move may not be enough to spur a quick recovery. Eric Teal, CIO for Comerica Wealth Management, noted that a more substantial "2% decline in mortgage rates is needed to jump-start the housing market."

See Also: How to Trade Futures

Upcoming Economic Data

Here's what investors will be keeping an eye on this week;

• On Monday, New York Fed President John Williams will speak at 9:45 a.m., St. Louis Fed President Alberto Musalem will speak at 10:00 a.m., and Fed Governor Stephen Miran will speak at 12:00 p.m. ET.
• Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack and Richmond Fed President Tom Barkin will speak at 12:00 p.m. ET.
• On Tuesday, Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman will speak at 9:00 a.m., and September’s S&P flash U.S. services and manufacturing PMI will be out by 9:45 a.m. ET.
• Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic will speak at 10:00 a.m. and Fed Chair Powell will speak at 12:35 p.m. ET.
• On Wednesday, August’s new home sales data will be out by 10:00 a.m. and San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly will speak at 4:10 p.m. ET.
• On Thursday, Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee will speak at 8:20 a.m. ET.
• The initial jobless claims data for the week ended Sept. 20, the second quarter GDP’s third estimate, August advanced U.S. trade balance in goods, advanced retail inventories, advanced wholesale inventories, and durable-goods orders will be released by 8:30 a.m. ET.
• August’s existing home sales data will be out by 10:00 a.m. ET.
• New York Fed President John Williams will speak again at 9:00 a.m., Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman will speak again at 10:00 a.m., Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan will speak at 1:40 p.m., and San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly will speak again at 3:30 p.m. ET.
• On Friday, August’s personal income, personal spending, and headline and core PCE index data will be out by 8:30 a.m. ET.
• September’s final consumer sentiment data will be released by 10:00 a.m. ET.
• Richmond Fed President Tom Barkin will speak again at 9:00 a.m. and Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman will speak again at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Stocks In Focus

• Firefly Aerospace Inc. (NASDAQ:FLY) was unchanged in premarket on Monday ahead of its earnings report scheduled to be released before the opening bell. Analysts estimate earnings of 46 cents per share on revenue of $17.25 million.
• Globus Maritime Ltd. (NASDAQ:GLBS) tumbled 13.08% despite reporting better-than-expected second-quarter financial results. It reported a quarterly loss of 9 cents per share, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of a loss of 18 cents per share. The company reported quarterly sales of $9.538 million, which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $8.800 million.
• Fox Corp. (NASDAQ:FOX) rose 4.20% as Trump considered media mogul Lachlan Murdoch to take part as an investor in a proposed deal to transfer TikTok’s U.S. operations from Chinese parent ByteDance to American ownership.
• Similarly, Oracle Corp. (NYSE:ORCL) was up 0.72% and Dell Technologies Inc. (NYSE:DELL) was 1.11% higher as Larry Ellison and Michael Dell would also be taking part in the TikTok transfer deal.
• Snap Inc. (NYSE:SNAP) jumped 7.48% after a strong week as retail interest increased in the trending stock with the launch of its operating system 2.0 last week.
• Strategy Inc. (NASDAQ:MSTR) slipped 2.83% as Michael Saylor explained the reason for Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) moving sideways and not breaking out.
• Newmont Corp. (NYSE:NEM) was up 1.80% as the firm announced it has completed the sale of common shares of Orla Mining Ltd.

Commodities, Gold, And Global Equity Markets

Crude oil futures were trading higher in the early New York session by 0.16% to hover around $62.50 per barrel.

Gold Spot US Dollar rose 1.01% to hover around $3,722.37 per ounce. Its last record high stood at $3,722.47 per ounce. The U.S. Dollar Index spot was 0.13% lower at the 97.5200 level.

Asian markets closed mixed on Monday; Hong Kong's Hang Seng and India’s S&P BSE Sensex indices fell. Whereas, China’s CSI 300, Australia's ASX 200, Japan's Nikkei 225, and South Korea's Kospi indices rose. European markets were lower in early trade.

Read Next:

• Martin Shkreli Amplifies Critique Calling D-Wave’s Quantum Tech ‘Dead-End:’ It Would Take Until 2054 To Match Current Classical Solvers

Photo courtesy: Shutterstock