Investing.com - Wall Street futures were higher on Monday, although trading volumes were expected to remain light ahead of the Independence Day holiday on Tuesday.
The blue-chip Dow futures were up 0.38%, the S&P 500 futures gained 0.33%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.26%.
Markets were jittery last week amid growing expectations for tighter monetary policy by major central banks.
In comments last week the heads of the European Central Bank, the Bank of England and the Bank of Canada adopted a more hawkish view on monetary policy, indicating that they were getting ready to join the Federal Reserve in policy tightening.
Hawkish signals from foreign central banks contrasted with doubts over whether the Fed will be able to hike rates again this year given a recent batch of weak U.S. economic data and growing skepticism that the Trump administration will be able to deliver on its pro-growth agenda.
The auto sector was expected to be in focus, after Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk said production for the company’s Model 3 electric car should start this Friday.
The $35,000 vehicle has “passed all regulatory requirements for production two weeks ahead of schedule,” Musk said on Twitter. Tesla shares surged 2.05% in pre-market trade.
Energy stocks were also set to move higher, thanks to an ongoing rise in oil prices. Shares in oil and gas major BP (LON:BP) climbed 0.89% pre-market, while Chevron (NYSE:CVX) rallied 1.26%.
Elsewhere, Nike (NYSE:NKE) could continue to climb on Monday, after the sportswear maker reported on Friday a better-than-expected quarterly profit and said it would launch a pilot online sales program with Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN).
Nike shares were down 0.46% in pre-market trade after suring over 10% on Friday, while Amazon advanced 0.56% before the open.
Later Monday, the Institute for Supply Management was set to release a report on U.S. manufacturing activity.