Columbus Day Holiday May Lead To Choppy Trading On Wall Street - U.S. Commentary

(RTTNews) - After turning in a strong performance last week, stocks may show a lack of direction in early trading on Monday. The major index futures are currently pointing to a roughly flat open for the markets, with the Dow futures up by just 6 points.

Choppy trading is to be expected on the day, with the Columbus Day holiday and a lack of major U.S. economic data likely to keep traders on the sidelines.

Traders may also be reluctant to make any significant moves as the earnings season is due to pick up steam in the coming days.

The week will see the release of quarterly results from several financial giants, including JP Morgan (JPM), Bank of America (BAC), Wells Fargo (WFC), Citigroup (C), and Goldman Sachs (GS).

Intel (INTC), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), General Electric (GE), and Netflix (NFLX) are also among the big-name companies due to report their results this week.

Later in the week, trading could also be impacted by reports on retail sales, industrial production, and producer and consumer price inflation.

While the overall markets may not see much activity, shares of EMC Corp. (EMC) are likely to be in focus on news the data storage company has agreed to be acquired by computer giant Dell for $67 billion.

Under the terms of the deal, EMC shareholders will receive $24.05 per share in cash in addition to tracking stock linked to a portion of the company's stake in VMware (VMW).

Meanwhile, software services firm Infosys (INFY) is likely to come under pressure after reporting better than expected second quarter results but lowering its dollar revenue growth guidance. The company also announced the resignation of its CFO Rajiv Bansal.

Following the rally seen late on Thursday, stocks saw some further upside during trading on Friday. While buying interest was somewhat subdued on the day, the Dow and the S&P 500 reached their best closing levels in over a month.

The major averages posted modest gains but closed off their highs for the session. The Dow edged up 33.74 points or 0.2 percent to 17,084.49, the Nasdaq rose 19.68 points or 0.4 percent to 4,830.47 and the S&P 500 inched up 1.46 points or 0.1 percent to 2,014.89.

Reflecting the upward trend seen in recent sessions, the major averages all moved notably higher for the week. The Dow soared by 3.7 percent, while the S&P 500 jumped by 3.3 percent and the Nasdaq surged up by 2.6 percent.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher on Monday. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index jumped by 1.2 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index surged up by 3.3 percent. The Japanese market was closed for a holiday.

Meanwhile, the major European markets are turning in a mixed performance on the day. While the German DAX Index is up by 0.3 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is down by 0.5 percent and the French CAC 40 Index is down by 0.3 percent.

In commodities trading, crude oil futures are slipping $0.03 to $49.60 a barrel after jumping $4.09 or 9 percent to $49.63 a barrel in the week ended October 9th. Gold futures, which rallied $19.30 or 1.7 percent to $1,155.90 an ounce last week, are climbing $10.30 to $1,166.20 an ounce.

Among currencies, the U.S. dollar ended higher last week. The greenback rallied 1.3 percent against the euro to $1.1358 a euro and gained 0.30 percent against the yen before ending the week at 120.27 yen. The dollar is currently trading at 120.12 yen and is valued at $1.1375 versus the euro.