Wall Street Might Open In Negative Territory

(RTTNews) - The Middle East tensions and fears of supply disruptions continue to influence investor sentiment on Monday.

In the Asian trading session, oil prices were sharply higher. Brent crude futures jumped 3.5 percent to $91.21 a barrel, while WTI crude futures were up 3.4 percent at $86.28 a barrel.

Gold extended losses. U.S. gold futures were down 0.9 percent at $4,489.61.

Initial trends from the U.S. Futures Index suggest that Wall Street might open lower on Monday.

As of 7.50 am ET, the Dow futures were down 131.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were declining points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were falling 59.75 points.

The U.S. major averages finished lower on Friday. The Nasdaq slid 138.93 points or 0.5 percent to 26,402.42 and the S&P 500 fell 19.23 points or 0.3 percent to 7,711.76. The narrower Dow posted a more modest loss, edging down 9.45 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 53,559.99.

On the economic front, the Dallas Fed Manufacturing Survey for August will be issued at 10.30 am ET. The consensus is 1.3, while it was at 1.3 in the prior month.

Three-month and 6-month Treasury bill auction will be held at 11.30 am ET.

The Agriculture Department's Farm Prices for July will be released at 3.00 pm ET. In the prior month, the prices were down 1.4 percent.

Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey or JOLTS is scheduled at 10.00 am ET on Tuesday.

Asian stocks turned in a mixed performance on Monday. China's Shanghai Composite index closed 0.86 percent higher at 3,986.30. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index finished marginally lower at 25,566.99.

Japanese markets endrf little changed. The Nikkei average ended 0.14 percent lower at 66,311.93 while the broader Topix index settled 0.23 percent higher at 4,156.29.

Australian markets ended slightly lower. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 dipped 0.18 percent to 9,076. The broader All Ordinaries index ended down 0.25 percent at 9,271.40.