WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - U.S. stocks may open flat to slightly higher on Monday after a subdued session on Friday in the wake of weak retail sales and inflation data as well as disappointing earnings updates from the likes of Nordstrom and J.C. Penney.
Energy stocks may inch higher as oil prices jumped on talk of supply cuts being extended into 2018. Both U.S. crude futures and Brent crude are currently up more than 2 percent after Saudi Arabia and Russia said they favor prolonging oil-output cuts by global producers until March 2018.
Cyber security firms may also see increased activity after a massive ransomware worm caused damage across the globe over the weekend.
The dollar fell against its major rivals and gold inched up as last week's disappointing U.S. data raised a question mark over the extent of Fed tightening.
Investors keep an eye on reports on housing starts, homebuilder confidence and industrial production this week for further hints about the likelihood of a rate increase at the Fed's June 13-14. meeting.
On the earnings front, retail giants Wal-Mart (WMT) Home Depot (HD) and Target (TGT) are due to report their quarterly results this week along with networking giant Cisco Systems (CSCO).
Globally, Asian stock markets closed mostly higher and European shares were largely unchanged in lackluster trade as investors took weak Chinese data, geopolitical worries and the WannaCry ransomware cyberattack in their stride.
China's industrial production growth eased at a faster-than-expected pace in April, official data showed. Output climbed an annual 6.5 percent, slower than the 7.6 percent rise in March, while retail sales surged 10.7 percent in the month, just below the 10.9 percent spike in the prior month.
The country's fixed asset investment also grew at a slightly slower pace of 8.9 percent in April, but property investment growth accelerated to 9.3 percent in the first four months of 2017 from 9.1 percent in the first quarter.
Traders also shrugged off concerns over North Korea's nuclear program, with South Korea's military saying it needs further analysis to verify North Korea's claim that Sunday's test-launch of a ballistic missile was a new mid-to-long range missile built to carry a large scale heavy nuclear warhead.
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