U.S. stock index futures gained on Monday after Wall Street had a brutal sell-off due to dismal earnings from some big U.S. banks last week and rising Middle East tensions.
The three major indices lost more than 1% in the previous day, posting weekly losses after major U.S. bank reports disappointed.
According to sources, President Joe Biden informed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the U.S. would not join a counter-offensive against Iran, which Netanyahu's war cabinet advocates after a major drone and missile attack on Israeli territory.
However, minutes of the Fed's March 19-20 policy meeting showed that "some participants" said financial conditions may not be as tight as suspected, "which could add momentum to aggregate demand and put upward pressure on inflation," which could support higher rates.
Iran began the attack after a purported Israeli strike on its Syria embassy facility on April 1 killed top Revolutionary Guards officers. Iran fired around 300 missiles and drones to attack Israel, but the damage was minimal.
The first-quarter earnings season is underway, and investors will watch Charles Schwab (SCHW.N) and Goldman Sachs (GS.N) before the bell.
Later in the day, Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan and San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly will speak. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell speaks Tuesday. Retail sales for March, due at 8:30 a.m. ET, may indicate how the U.S. consumer is faring in the high-interest-rate climate.
U.S. shares have fallen as investors greatly reduced their expectations of a Federal Reserve rate drop this year. LSEG data shows traders have priced in 42 basis points of cuts this year, down from 150 bps at the start. Wall Street's main indexes fell on Friday, following a week of higher-than-expected inflation and jobs data that shifted investors' interest rate decrease expectations.
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