FX.co ★ US Futures Point to Gains at the Open

U.S. stock futures experienced an uptick on Monday as the markets began a Thanksgiving week shortened by the holiday. Futures tied to the S&P 500 climbed by 0.6%, Nasdaq 100 futures surged by 0.9%, and Dow Jones futures rose by 140 points. This increase followed remarks from the head of the New York Federal Reserve last Friday, which led traders to elevate their expectations of an interest rate cut by the Fed next month. The likelihood of a 25 basis point cut in the federal funds rate stands at approximately 65%. Market participants are also preparing for a slew of economic reports due this week, including figures on retail sales, durable goods orders, and the Producer Price Index (PPI). Alphabet's shares saw a nearly 4% increase in premarket trading after it surpassed Microsoft on Friday to become the third-largest U.S. company by market capitalization. Meanwhile, U.S.-listed shares of Alibaba increased by 3.8% following the announcement that its AI application, Qwen, achieved over 10 million downloads in its first week post-relaunch. Tesla saw a 1.7% rise after CEO Elon Musk revealed the company had already designed several million AI chips for use in its vehicles and data centers.