By Peter Nurse
Investing.com -- U.S. stocks are seen edging higher at the open Monday, starting the week on a positive note ahead of potentially significant U.S. midterm elections and the release of important inflation data.
At 07:00 ET (12:00 GMT), the Dow Futures contract was up 180 points or 0.6%, S&P 500 Futures traded 20 points or 0.6% higher, and Nasdaq 100 Futures climbed 55 points or 0.5%.
The midterm elections are set to take place on Tuesday, with the latest polls suggesting that the Republican party could take back control of the House of Representatives and possibly the Senate for the second half of President Joe Biden's term, likely stymieing his administration's legislative agenda.
Also of interest this week, on the economic front, will be Thursday's release of U.S. consumer inflation data for October.
Economists are expecting the annual rate of inflation to come in at 8.0%, down from 8.2% in September, and the monthly rate of inflation to rise by 0.6%.
The major indices all posted a negative week last week, weighed by worries that the U.S. Federal Reserve will continue to aggressively raise interest rates after Chair Jerome Powell signaled that rates may peak at a higher level than previously assumed.
This inflation release is set to provide fresh insight into the challenge facing the central bank policymakers, with the Fed next set to discuss interest rate moves in mid-December.
FOMC members Loretta Mester, Susan Collins, and Thomas Barkin are due to speak later Monday, and their comments will be closely studied for clues towards future policy.
The corporate earnings season is starting to wind down, but there are still a number of companies reporting results Monday, including Palantir (NYSE:PLTR), BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX), Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:ATVI), Lyft (NASDAQ:LYFT) and Take-Two Interactive (NASDAQ:TTWO).
Additionally, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) will be in the spotlight after the iPhone maker warned that it expects reduced shipments of its premium iPhone 14 model, following a significant production cut at a plant in China, which has been impacted by COVID restrictions.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META), the parent of social media giant Facebook, is planning to begin large-scale redundancies this week, the Wall Street Journal reported over the weekend.
Oil prices fell Monday on the confirmation that China's zero-COVID policy was here to stay, dashing hopes of a rebound in oil demand from the world's top crude importer.
China's crude oil imports to the highest level since May, but the volume for the first 10 months was still 2.7% below the same period a year earlier.
The COP27 climate talks kicked off in Egypt, with IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva saying that the price of carbon needs to average at least $75 a ton globally by the end of the decade for global climate goals to succeed, according to a report from Reuters.
By 07:00 ET, U.S. crude futures traded 0.5% lower at $92.16 a barrel, while the Brent contract fell 0.3% to $98.23.
Additionally, gold futures rose 0.2% to $1,679.70/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.2% higher at 0.9979.