(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures were higher on Monday with investors snapping up beaten down technology and retail stocks.þþThe S&P technology sector is coming off its second straight week of declines, triggered mainly due to stretched valuations and investors moving money to other sectors. Tech stocks have led the S&P 500's 8.7 percent rally this year.þþLeading the rebound, Apple, Microsoft and Alphabet were all up between 0.8 percent and 1 percent in premarket trading.þþRetail stocks were battered on Friday after Amazon.com's $13.7 billion deal to buy upscale grocer Whole Foods.þþThe deal by Amazon, a proven retail disruptor, marked a major step by the internet retailer into the brick-and-mortar retail sector.þþAmazon was up 0.94 percent, while Wal-Mart, Target and Kroger gained between 0.4 percent and 1.1 percent on Monday.þþThe market is awaiting comments by New York Fed President William Dudley, a close ally of Fed Chair Janet Yellen, when he speaks at a business roundtable at 7:45 a.m. ET (1145 GMT).þþYellen's confidence as her team raised interest rates for the third time in six months last week surprised investors who had expected more caution about the economy following a batch of weak U.S. economic data.þþLast month, the U.S. economy added 138,000 jobs, well below the expected gain of 185,000, while other data showed a fall in retail sales and inflation below the Fed's target of 2 percent.þþEuropean stocks were headed for their biggest rise in two months, helped by a meaty parliamentary majority for pro-business French President Emmanuel Macron.þþOil prices edged higher, after coming under pressure over the past month from rising production. [O/R]þþClovis Oncology soared 41.8 percent to $85 after the biotechnology company's ovarian cancer drug was set for a label expansion.þþ(Reporting by Tanya Agrawal; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)
Source: NY Times
