US stock futures edged lower on Monday as investors geared up for a busy stretch of economic data and corporate earnings, following a turbulent week that ended with the Dow reaching a record close above 50,000.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures (YM=F) slipped 0.1% after wavering between small gains and losses. Contracts on the S&P 500 (ES=F) fell roughly 0.3%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 dropped 0.5% (NQ=F).

On Friday, the Dow (^DJI) surged more than 1,200 points, or 2.5%, notching its first-ever close above 50,000 after briefly crossing the milestone intraday. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) and Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) both finished up around 2%, as Wall Street recovered from a week of heavy losses driven by a tech-led sell-off.

US bond prices fell on Monday after Chinese regulators urged the country's banks to reduce their US debt holdings, due to concerns over market volatility.

Gold (GC=F) climbed above $5,000 an ounce on Monday as dip-buyers returned following a volatile week for precious metals and bitcoin (BTC-USD) dipped below $70,000 after last week's wild swings.

The markets' comeback is set to run head first into a week packed with key economic data, with the delayed January employment report scheduled for release Wednesday. The data was originally slated for release last Friday but was postponed due to the partial government shutdown. Expectations are muted after ADP reported just 22,000 private-sector job additions last month, down from 140,000 in the same period last year.

Also on deck is January’s consumer price index, set for release Friday following its own shutdown-related delay. On the earnings front, reports from Coca-Cola (KO), McDonald's (MCD), Cisco (CSCO), and ON Semiconductor (ON) highlight the week.

Those reports will help shape expectations for the Federal Reserve's interest rate path ahead, as investors weigh how US monetary policy could evolve under President Trump’s pick to succeed Fed Chair Jerome Powell, former Fed governor Kevin Warsh.

Although Warsh is widely viewed as a policy hawk and served at the central bank during the 2008 financial crisis, his nomination sparked only a short-lived lift in the greenback, with the dollar index (DX-Y.NYB) down 10% since Trump took office.

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) fell below $70,000 on Monday following a week of wild swings for the world's largest cryptocurrency.

Bloomberg News reports:

The original cryptocurrency — which had stabilized during the Asia day — fell around 1.1% to $69,864 at around 9 a.m. in London. The move was still relatively calm compared with last week’s wild swings, when Bitcoin on Thursday plunged to $60,033, its lowest since October 2024, before rallying back above $70,000 on Friday.

Traders remain on edge.

“Crypto markets have stabilized” but “the market is still uncertain that the worst is over,” said Caroline Mauron, co-founder of Orbit Markets. “$60,000 is the main support on the downside. A break through $75,000 on the upside may signal the end of the bear market.”

Last week’s selloff saw Bitcoin volatility surge. The Bitcoin Volmex Implied Volatility Index jumped above 97% in the largest intraday increase since the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX in 2022.

Read more here.

Gold (GC=F) rose above $5,000 an ounce on Monday as dip-buyers returned following a volatile week for precious metals.

Bloomberg news reports:

Bullion rose as much as 1.7% in Asian trading on Monday, recovering some more ground after a historic rout at the end of last month. The metal has recovered around half of the losses sustained since it plunged from an all-time high hit on Jan. 29. Silver also advanced.

Gold’s ability to stabilize above the $5,000 threshold “will be critical in determining whether the market can transition from a reactive bounce to a more sustainable advance,” said Ahmad Assiri, an analyst at Pepperstone Group Ltd.

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QuantumScape stock rose 14% before the bell on Monday after launching its \\"Eagle Line\\" in San Jose, a high-tech pilot factory designed to mass-produce its battery parts.

Simply Wall Street reports:

By positioning Eagle Line as a blueprint for scalable production and potential licensing at gigawatt-hour levels, QuantumScape is shifting focus from pure R&D toward proving its technology can be manufactured at meaningful scale.

For investors, Eagle Line centers on execution risk and timing. The focus now is on how effectively QuantumScape can use this pilot line for OEM sampling, real world testing, and refining production processes in a way that could support future volume manufacturing if customer interest and technical results align.

The Eagle Line moves QuantumScape a step closer to showing whether its solid state battery tech can work in something like an automaker’s real-world qualification process, rather than just in the lab.

Read more here.

AP Finance reports:

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 (^N225) share index jumped 4.7% on Monday after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s governing party secured a two-thirds supermajority in a parliamentary election.

Takaichi is expected to pursue market-friendly policies. She told public broadcaster NHK later that she is ready to pursue policies to make Japan strong and prosperous.

Markets across Asia also advanced, with South Korea's Kospi surging 4.3% and other benchmarks gaining more than 1%.

The gains came after the U.S. stock market roared back on Friday as technology stocks recovered much of their losses from earlier in the week and bitcoin (BTC-USD) halted its plunge.

Read more here.

Bloomberg reports:

Oil declined as tensions in the Middle East eased, reducing the near-term chance of potential interruptions to supply.

Brent (BZ=F) fell below $68 a barrel, after losing almost 4% last week, while West Texas Intermediate (CL=F) was near $63. Iran and the US engaged in talks on Friday in Oman in an effort to defuse tensions over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program, with Tehran saying the session was “a step forward.”

With Washington having amassed military forces in the region, President Donald Trump said there would be another meeting early this week. The US leader is also due to see Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while priming a package of tariffs on countries doing business with Tehran.

Crude has pushed higher since the start of 2026 despite widespread concerns about a glut, with advances supported by geopolitical tensions as well as halts to some flows, including from Kazakhstan. Still, prices fell last week on the signs of progress between Iran and the US, which were seen by traders as lessening the odds of military intervention in the near term.

Read more here.