Wall Street To Kick-start Year's Full Fledged Trading Week On Nervous Note

(RTTNews) - Wall Street has resigned itself to being cautious, as reflected by the trading in the U.S. index futures, which are pointing to a nearly flat opening on Monday. Earlier in the global trading day, Asian stocks closed lower across the board, although South Korea was an exception, while the European markets are trading on a mixed note. Sentiment going into the session may also depend on a domestic non-manufacturing data. With some key labor market statistics due for the week, traders may prefer to adopt a "wait and watch attitude."

At 6:15 am ET, the Dow futures are rising 19 points, the S&P 500 futures are adding 1.75 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures are little changed.

U.S. stocks retreated in the first trading week of the year that ended on January 3rd, as profit taking pressured stocks that have run up significantly over most of 2013.

On the economic front, the job market is expected to take the spotlight in the unfolding week, as Main Street prepares to receive 3 key jobs data during the week. The focus of the week is likely to be on ADP's private sector employment report for December, the weekly jobless claims data and the Labor Department's monthly non-farm payrolls report for December.

Traders may also look ahead to the Commerce Department's factory orders report for November, the results of the Institute for Supply Management's non-manufacturing survey for December, the Commerce Department's trade balance report for November, the FOMC minutes and some Fed speeches. The Federal Reserve's consumer credit report for November, the Commerce Department's wholesale inventories report for November and the results of the Treasury auctions of 3-year and 10-year notes and 30-year bonds round up the economic events of the week.

The Commerce Department is scheduled to release its factory orders report for November at 10 am ET. Economists expect factory orders to have increased by 1.6 percent month-over-month following a 0.9 percent drop in October.

The Institute for Supply Management is due to release the results of its non-manufacturing survey for December also at 10 am ET. The consensus estimates call for an improvement in the index to 54.8 in the month from 53.9 in November.

The non-manufacturing index fell to 53.9 in November from 55.4 in October. Of the eighteen industries surveyed, 11 reported growth. The new orders index fell 0.2 points to 56.4 and the order backlogs index slipped 1 point to 49. The employment index declined 3.7 points to 52.5.

In corporate news, SiriusXM (SIRI) announced that it has received a non-binding letter from Liberty Global (LBTYA) indicating its intention to buy all of the shares in SiriusXM it does not already own. The proposal offers to convert all SiriusXM outstanding shares that Liberty does not already own into right to receive 0.0760 of a new share of Liberty Series C common stock.

Rambus (RMBS) and Samsung announced that the companies have signed a comprehensive 10-year license agreement, providing Samsung access to Rambus' technologies to be used in Samsung ICs in return for quarterly royalty payment of $15 million for the first 5 years, with an initial payment of $22 million for the fourth quarter of 2013. A. Schulman (SHLM) and Sonic (SONC) are the companies due to release their quarterly results after the close of trading.

Chinese economic uncertainties worked in the minds of Asian markets, as the major averages in the region declined across the board. Meanwhile, the South Korean, which declined sharply last week, staged a moderate rebound. The results of a private survey showed that Chinese service sector activity slowed in December, kindling worries concerning a slowdown in economic growth in the world's second largest economy.

Japan's Nikkei 225 average ended down 382.43 points or 2.35 percent at 15,908. Fast Retailing slipped 5.76 percent and was the worst performer among the index components. Mitsumi Electric, Mitsubishi Logistics, Takara Holdings, Advantest, Japan Steel and Mitsubishi UFJ also declined sharply.

Australia's All Ordinaries declined closed 24.10 points or 0.45 percent lower at 5,328. The market witnessed broad based weakness, with energy and material stocks leading the slide. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index closed at 22,684, down 133.13 points or 0.58 percent, and China's Shanghai Composite Index fell 37.43 points or 1.80 percent before closing at 2,046.

On the economic front, revised estimates released by Markit Economics and HSBC showed that non-manufacturing growth in China slowed in December. The service sector business activity index fell 1.6 points to 50.9.

A survey by the Australian Industry Group showed that service sector activity in Australia continued to remain in contraction territory in December. The service sector purchasing managers' index fell 2.8 points to 46.1.

European stocks opened lower and have been seeing some volatility in early trading. The major averages are currently trading on a mixed note.

In corporate news, U.K.'s Cable & Wireless said Phil Bentley began his role as CEO of the company, effective January 1st, replacing Tony Rice. Balfour Beatty said it has been awarded a 154 million pound contract to carry out the full transformation work to the London 2012 Olympic stadium for its operator E20 Stadium.

On the economic front, Eurozone's private sector growth accelerated as estimated in December, supported by strong performance by the manufacturing sector, final data released by Markit Economics revealed. The seasonally adjusted composite output index, which measures performance of manufacturing and service sectors, rose to a three-month high of 52.1 from 51.7 in November.

Separately, Eurozone investor confidence improved sharply in January to its highest level since April 2011, a monthly survey by the think tank Sentix showed. The sentiment index rose by 3.9 points to 11.9.