US stock futures steady as markets digest Trump’s attack By Investing.com

Investing.com – U.S. stock index futures steadied in evening trading on Sunday amid speculation about whether an attack on presidential candidate Donald Trump had improved his chances of victory.

Uncertainty about the political situation in the US largely kept risk appetite in check. Investors were also awaiting a number of important corporate results in the coming days as the second-quarter reporting season began in earnest.

rose slightly to 5,688.0 points, rose slightly to 20,534.0 points by 19:12 ET (23:12 GMT). rose 40,347.0 points.

2024 Republican Party Convention in focus after Trump attack

Trump was the target of an assassination attempt on Saturday during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The attacker shot Trump multiple times and hit him in the ear. Trump urged the crowd to “fight!”

Initial reactions to the attack were that it would improve Trump’s chances of winning the 2024 presidential election. Trump is now scheduled to speak at the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, where he is expected to be officially nominated as the party’s front-runner for the presidential election.

The conference, which begins later this week, is expected to be Trump’s first public appearance since the shooting.

Nevertheless, the political uncertainty in the wake of the attack is likely to weigh on risky assets.

Wall Street hits record high amid optimism over rate cut

Wall Street indices rose to near record highs on Friday as slightly stronger-than-expected producer price inflation data did little to dampen speculation about interest rate cuts.

The index hit a record 40,000.90 points on Friday, outperforming its rivals as the prospect of lower interest rates prompted traders to turn to more economically sensitive stocks.

The rose by 0.6% to 5,615.35 points and the by 0.6% to 18,396.98 points, with both indices remaining within sight of their recent highs.

Friday’s data was also accompanied by weaker inflation expectations and consumer sentiment data, fueling hopes that inflation will cool in the coming months and giving the Federal Reserve enough confidence to start cutting interest rates.

Traders have calculated a 90.3% probability that the Fed will cut interest rates by 25 basis points in September, up from 72.2% last week.

The rate cuts also helped markets to overlook the rather mixed earnings of the major Wall Street banks in the second quarter.

Q2 earnings likely to rise as more banks enter the race

The second quarter reporting season will pick up speed this week, with heavyweights Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:) and BlackRock Inc (NYSE:) will release their results on Monday, followed by Bank of America Corp (NYSE:) and Morgan Stanley (NYSE:) on Tuesday.

Major chipmaker ASML Holding NV (AS:) is expected to release its report on Wednesday, while technology giant Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:) is scheduled to release its report on Thursday.