U.S. stock futures volatile as Wall Street strives to shake off back-to-back losses

What’s driving markets

Futures were a touch firmer, having bounced off session lows, but the cautious mood of late is seeping into the new week, with sentiment not helped by lingering concerns about prospects for China’s economy.

The S&P 500 recorded two consecutive weeks of losses, shedding 2.6% in the process, after the rally faltered in many big technology stocks such as Apple
AAPL,
+0.03%
and Nvidia
NVDA,
-3.62%.

Choppiness in the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield
BX:TMUBMUSD10Y,
which has moved to within just several basis points of its highest level since the Great Financial Crisis, partly on expectations of increased government issuance, has discouraged stock bulls.

With more than 90% of the S&P 500 having reported, the second quarter earnings season is starting to wind down, though retailers will be a feature in the coming days as Home Depot
HD,
+0.52%,
Target
TGT,
+0.10%
and Walmart
WMT,
+0.59%
present their numbers. July retail sales data is due Tuesday morning.

Stronger-than-expected retail sales could fuel the idea that the U.S. economy will fall on its four feet and avoid recession amid the Federal Reserve’s aggressive tightening cycle, but it won’t necessarily impact inflation expectations,” Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank, said in a note.

“But anyway, strong sales data and encouraging earnings could halt bleeding in U.S. stocks” after back-to-back declines for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq, she said.

A sour tone from Asia was containing any rise in risk assets on Monday, after Country Garden Holdings
2007,
-18.37%,
China’s biggest home builder, saw its shares plunge to another record low on news it was suspending trading in around 11 of its mainland bonds. The news added to fears about the health of the world’s second biggest economy and left Hong Kong’s Hang Seng
HK:HSI
down 1.7%.

Companies in focus

• United States Steel Corp. shares 
  X,
  +0.98%
  surged 28% in premarket trade after Cleveland-Cliffs Inc.
  CLF,
  -0.07%
   announced Sunday it had made a $7.3 billion takeover bid that was rejected by the steelmaker’s board. Earlier Sunday, U.S. Steel said it was reviewing “strategic alternatives” after receiving multiple unsolicited acquisition proposals. Cleveland-Cliffs shares fell 0.6%.

• Shares of AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. slumped more than 25% after a Delaware court on Friday approved a revised, but still controversial, stock-conversion plan for the movie-theater chain. The ruling saw AMC preferred equity units
  APE,
  +1.71%
  jump more than 25%.

• Tesla Inc.
  TSLA,
  -1.10%
  were lower after the electric-vehicle maker cut the cost of two versions of its Model Y SUVs on Sunday.