What’s moving the markets

U.S. stock futures rose slightly as investors weighed weak jobs data, trade announcements and the Federal Reserve’s interest rate outlook. Strong earnings offered markets some protection against signs of a cooling U.S. economy and uncertainty about the impact of Washington’s tariff program. Meanwhile, the company’s decline in the value of its stake in Kraft-Heinz weighed on the earnings of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRKa).

1. Futures are rising

U.S. stock futures rose on Monday after a sharp sell-off late last week as the prospect of lower interest rates helped ease concerns about the U.S. economy.

By 03:00 ET (07:00 GMT), Dow futures were up 128 points, or 0.3%, S&P 500 futures were up 24 points, or 0.4%, and Nasdaq 100 futures were up 102 points, or 0.4%..

Wall Street’s major averages fell on Friday, with the benchmark S&P 500 in particular falling to its worst day in more than two months. Sentiment was affected by President Donald Trump’s announcement of increased tariffs on a number of trading partners, as well as the “weak” jobs report, which included significant downward revisions, suggesting a deeper slowdown in the US labor market than initially expected.

2. Earnings to come

Stocks were also supported by a generally solid corporate earnings season, which helped underscore the durability of the multi-year boom in enthusiasm around artificial intelligence applications.

Big tech companies like Facebook owner Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) and software group Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) have delivered impressive results in recent days and, perhaps more notably, backed up their plans for massive capital spending on artificial intelligence.

These statements have eased some of the remaining concerns about the impact of Trump’s tariffs, although a number of firms have begun to hint that there could be price increases in the coming months.

3. Berkshire Hathaway Results

Berkshire Hathaway announced a $3.76 billion writedown on its stake in consumer food company Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC), while a decline in insurance premiums also dented second-quarter returns at Warren Buffett’s growing conglomerate.

Along with weak earnings from common stocks like American Express (NYSE:AXP) and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), the Kraft-Heinz writedown and declining premiums contributed to a sharp drop in overall net income to $12.37 billion from $30.35 billion in the same period a year ago. Revenue also fell 1.2% to $92.5 billion.

However, Berkshire was buoyed by a nearly 20% jump in operating income at its BNSF unit, largely driven by cost reductions and lower fuel costs.

At the end of the second quarter, Berkshire’s cash stood at $344 billion, down slightly from $348 billion in the prior three-month period but close to an all-time record high.

4. Crude oil price stabilizes despite OPEC+ production increase

Oil prices stabilized on Monday even after a group of leading producers agreed to another big output increase in September, boosting global supply.

At 3:10 a.m. Eastern time, Brent futures were down 0.2% to $69.80 a barrel, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were up 0.3% to $67.53 a barrel.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies, known as OPEC+, agreed on Sunday to increase oil production by 547,000 barrels per day for September.

This action, in line with market expectations, marks a full and early reversal of the largest tranche of OPEC+ production cuts, amounting to about 2.5 million barrels per day, or about 2.4% of global demand.

5. Spot gold price declines

Gold prices were mixed in early European trade on Monday as investors booked gains after rising in the previous session, fueled by expectations of an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve.

Спот цените на златото паднаха с 0,2% до 3 355,69 долара за унция, докато фючърсите на златото за декември се повишиха с 0,3% до 3 408,67 долара за унция до 03:34 ET.

Gold prices jumped more than 2% on Friday after weak jobs data raised hopes of a rate cut by the Federal Reserve in September. The rally in the yellow metal, which tends to perform well in lower-interest-rate environments, helped it post a weekly gain after two straight weeks of declines.

Elsewhere, bitcoin rose 0.8% to $114,567.60, stabilizing after falling about 3% over the past five days.