Stock Market
Futures in the United States were trading lower over the weekend after stock markets fell in Friday's session as investors weighed the potential ramifications of rising Delta variant cases against optimism relating to corporate earnings for the second quarter.
Inflation
Inflation has been on everyone's mind in recent weeks. Consumers believe that prices will jump 4.8% over the next year, as per the consumer sentiment index released by the University of Michigan on Friday. This would be the most significant surge since the middle of 2008.
However, the rise in inflation is being driven by a few products and is unlikely to have an impact on the performance of major indices, as evidenced by UBS's revision of the S&P 500's price target to 4,650 by June 2022.
It is worth noting that retail sales have outperformed expectations, rising 0.6% versus the expected 0.4% decline. This has once again confirmed that business is returning to pre-pandemic normalcy with each passing day.
Gold And The US Dollar
The dollar has risen in value in recent weeks, with the dollar index, which measures the currency against six other currencies, rising 0.11% to 92.675. The index surged by 0.6% in the previous week. The dollar appreciated after Fed Chair Jerome Powell stated that interest rates would be raised sooner than expected in 2023.
Gold, on the other hand, has declined in value as the value of the dollar has risen. The precious metal did not benefit from a drop in US real yields, which could indicate that it will fall even further. However, an increase in demand from the world's largest buyer, China, would provide support for the precious metal.