Investing.com - U.S. stock markets pointed to a lower open on Monday morning, with the Dow poised to fall back below the 20,000-level as investors eyed key economic data and corporate earnings while awaiting further clarity on Donald Trump's policies.
The blue-chip Dow futures lost 60 points, or around 0.3%, by 6:45AM ET (11:45GMT), the S&P 500 futures shed 7 points, or 0.3%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures declined 17 points, or about 0.3%.
On Monday, the U.S. is to release data on personal income and consumer spending for December at 8:30AM ET (13:30GMT), followed by pending home sales for December at 10:00AM ET (15:00GMT).
This week's economic calendar also features a Federal Reserve policy meeting on Wednesday and the monthly nonfarm payrolls report for January on Friday.
Meanwhile, in earnings news, Booz Allen Hamilton (NYSE:BAH) and Enterprise Products (NYSE:EPD) are among the companies reporting results ahead of the opening bell.
Earnings from tech giants Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) as well as major drug companies Merck (NYSE:MRK) and Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) are also on the radar this week.
Despite the flurry of data and earnings, headlines from Washington could continue to dictate market sentiment this week, as traders focus on President Donald Trump for further details on his promises of tax reform, infrastructure spending and deregulation as well as trade policies.
Sentiment was bruised after Trump on Friday suspended travel to the United States from Syria, Iraq, Iran and four other Muslim-majority countries, saying the moves would help protect Americans from terrorist attacks.
The executive order led to huge protests in many U.S. cities and sparked global backlash, raising worries about the potentially destabilizing impact of Trump's policies.
Several U.S. tech companies such as Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Apple and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) have criticized the ban, while Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) chief executive Howard Schultz promised that the company would hire 10,000 refugees globally.
Elsewhere, shares in Asia and Europe fell on Monday as investors assessed what Trump’s immigration ban means for businesses around the globe.