Futures rebound after volatile week, takeover talks boost VMware

[May 23, 2022]  (Reuters) - Wall Street futures rose on Monday, helped by a bounce in growth stocks and banks, after the benchmark S&P 500 hovered near a grim market milestone at the end of last week.

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, where markets roiled after Russia continues to attack Ukraine, in New York, U.S., February 24, 2022. REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs

Investors will keep a close eye on the slew of economic data expected this week that could shed new light on the health of U.S. economy against the backdrop of a steep selloff in stocks since January.

U.S. stock indexes plunged further last week as dismal forecasts from Walmart Inc and other retailers added to worries about surging inflation and its impact on consumers and economic growth.

The benchmark S&P 500 fell over 20% from its Jan. 3 record closing high at one point on Friday, pushing it to the brink of confirming a bear market. The index is now down 18.7% from its all-time closing high.

Cloud service provider VMWare surged 21.2% in premarket trading after reports over the weekend said chipmaker Broadcom Inc is in talks to acquire the company. Broadcom fell 5.2%.

Beaten-down megacap growth stocks including Apple Inc, Microsoft Corp, Tesla Inc, Alphabet Inc, Meta Platforms and Amazon.com gained between 0.7% and 1.3%.

JPMorgan Chase & Co rose 1.6% after the biggest U.S. bank by assets lifted its outlook for net interest income, relieving some worries that the lender might be starting to lose its edge.

Readings on the second estimate of first-quarter U.S. GDP, PCE price index and durable goods data for April are due this week, likely providing clues on how the world's largest economy is faring amid decades-high inflation.

The Federal Reserve's May meeting minutes, due on Wednesday, will be closely parsed for signs on how aggressively the U.S. central bank is planning to raise interest rates. Money markets are pricing in 50-basis point rate hikes by the Fed in June and July..

At 07:00 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 347 points, or 1.11%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 47 points, or 1.21%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 124.5 points, or 1.05%.

Meanwhile, U.S. President Joe Biden said on Monday he was weighing cutting tariffs on Chinese goods, while increasing calls on OPEC to raise oil production as he grappled with a politically damaging wave of inflation.

(Reporting by Devik Jain and Anisha Sircar in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)

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