Investing.com - Wall Street futures edged higher on Monday, helped by a rise in oil prices and as investors moved on from Friday’s downbeat U.S. data.
The blue-chip Dow futures was up 0.19%, the S&P 500 futures edged 0.15% higher, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures added 0.18%.
Concerns over the strength of the world’s biggest economy mounted after the U.S. Commerce Department said on Friday that retail sales were flat in July, compared expectations for a 0.4% rise. Core retail sales, which exclude automobile sales, fell by 0.3% in July.
A separate report showed that U.S. producer prices fell by 0.4% last month, disappointing expectations for a 0.1% rise. Year-over-year, producer prices decreased by 0.2%.
But oil prices moved higher on Monday, supported by growing hopes of production cuts by exporting countries.
Shares in oil and gas major Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) climbed 0.44% in pre-market trade.
Retailers were expected to be in focus after JC Penney Company Inc Holding (NYSE:JCP) narrowed its quarterly loss on Friday and reported a sales increase.
Rival company Nordstrom (NYSE:JWN) raised its profit projections for the rest of the year and exceeded expectations late Thursday.
The tech sector was also set to be in the spotlight following news late last week that HP Inc (NYSE:HPQ) plans to pay $275 million for Silicon Graphics International (NASDAQ:SGI)., whose shares skyrocketed over 28% on Friday.
NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) was up 0.10% pre-market, after surging over 5% on Friday thanks to better-than-expected earnings.
Companies scheduled to release earnings reports on Monday included Sysco (NYSE:SYY), Noah Holdings Ltd (NYSE:NOAH), and Red Rock Resorts Inc (NASDAQ:RRR).
Later in the day, the U.S. was set to release manufacturing activity data from the New York region.