S&P 500, Nasdaq futures drop as investors await key inflation data

(Reuters) – Futures tracking the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq fell on Monday as investors remained on the fence ahead of key inflation data later this week, while heavyweight technology shares largely shrugged off a deal by the world’s richest nations on a global minimum corporate tax.

FILE PHOTO: The New York Stock Exchange is pictured in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., April 16, 2021. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri/File Photo

The Group of Seven (G7) advanced economies agreed on Saturday to back a minimum global corporate tax rate of at least 15%, but analysts said immediate market implications would be minimal since the details remained to be negotiated over the coming months.

Shares of Apple Inc, Amazon.com Inc, Facebook Inc and Google-parent Alphabet Inc were down between 0.4% and 0.5% in premarket trading, broadly in line with the bigger market move. Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.4%.

Wall Street’s main indexes ended higher on Friday, led by technology shares, after a tepid U.S. monthly jobs report relieved investors concerned about the Federal Reserve scaling back its massive stimulus program sooner than expected.

The benchmark S&P 500 is inches away from its record highs hit earlier in May as investors shift focus to May’s consumer price data due on Thursday to assess inflationary patterns in the economy.

At 06:51 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis rose 24 points, or 0.07% and S&P 500 e-minis were down 5.25 points, or 0.12%.

Cinema operator AMC Entertainment added 1.8% in premarket trading after racking up a near 200% rise in the past two weeks, driven by retail investors.

Other “meme stocks” including GameStop and U.S.-listed shares of BlackBerry also inched higher.

Some traders are betting against another massive rally this week through a type of wager in the options market that would limit their losses should retail investors behind the run-up prove them wrong.

Drugmaker Biogen Inc rose 3.1% ahead of the U.S. FDA’s decision on whether to approve its Alzheimer’s drug aducanumab.

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