(MENAFN- ProactiveInvestors - N.America) U.S. stock futures slipped on Monday after a record-setting week for markets, as disappointing Chinese data over the weekend and the continued struggle regarding the U.S. budget put a dent in investor optimism.
Friday, stocks rose, with the Dow closing at a series of record highs, ending last week at another all-time high, up almost 68 points at 14,397.07 after February jobs growth came in far better than expected and the unemployment rate fell to a more than four year low.
But futures on the three main U.S. market indices fell back Monday, down by up to 0.2%, after consumer inflation in China rose to 3.2% in February year-on-year, up from 2% in January, primarily due to a spike in prices over the Lunar New Year. Other data also showed that Chinese retail sales and industrial production softened in the first two months of the year.
Meanwhile, investors were also concerned with the U.S. as the heads of the House and Senate budget committees introduce their budget resolutions this week and as automatic spending cuts start to take effect. Unless a short term funding bill is passed by March 27, the government could face a partial shutdown.
On the economic front this morning, there were no major reports slated for the U.S. with traders looking ahead to February retail sales this week.
Earnings are slow as well on the corporate front, though numbers came in from retailer Dick's Sporting Goods (NYSE:DKS), with its fourth quarter profit missing analyst expectations, sending shares down by more than 7% premarket.
Urban Outfitters (NASDAQ:URBN) is also set to report results, and is expected to post earnings of 57 cents a share on sales of $850.5 million.
This afternoon, Diamond Foods (NASDAQ:DMND) is due to hand in results.
Elsewhere, Nokia (NYSE:NOK) drew focus this morning, with shares down more than 2% after Goldman Sachs cut its price target on the handset maker, and reiterated its sell rating.
According to reports, Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) is being challenged by publishing industry groups in its effort to own new internet domains such as .book, .author and .read as the groups feel the online retailer owning these names would be a threat to competition.
In other corporate news, Sony (NYSE:SNY) said its chairman Howard Stringer will retire from the company at the annual shareholder meeting in June. Shares were up over 1% premarket.
Shares of Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) also rose more than 1% before the opening bell after reporting its heart drug Ranex reduced chest pain in patients with diabetes, according to a clinical trial.
Commodities
In electronic trading, crude oil for April fell 11 cents to $91.84 a barrel, while gold futures rose $1.10 to $1,578.00 an ounce.
Europe
European markets were mixed in early afternoon trade on Monday after Fitch Ratings late Friday cut Italy's credit rating one notch. The FTSE 100 was lately higher by 0.19%, while the CAC 40 led the DAX lower. They were down 0.24% and 0.14%, respectively.
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