Stock futures little changed on first day of month

By Tanya Agrawal(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures were little changed on Monday, the first trading day of the month, as the chances of a near-term U.S. interest rate hike faded.On Friday, the S&P 500 index hit a new record intra-day high for the seventh time in a month, while the Nasdaq ended July with a rise of 6.6 percent.Growth in U.S. gross domestic product in the second quarter came in below expectations, fueling arguments the Federal Reserve may not raise interest rates anytime soon.After the GDP numbers, the chance of a hike by the year end fell to about 33 percent, according to CME Fedwatch, down from about 50 percent early last week.Investors will continue keeping an eye on corporate results, where aggregate quarterly earnings of S&P 500 companies are now expected to fall 3 percent, compared with a 3.7 percent decline predicted earlier, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.Data expected on Monday include a forecast from the Institute for Supply Management for its national factory index, which is expected to be 53 in July, compared with 53.2 in June. A reading above 50 indicates expansion in the manufacturing sector. The data is due at 10 a.m. ET (1400 GMT).The monthly non-farm employment report is expected on Friday and the Bank of England meets on Thursday.Oil prices fell about 1.3 percent as a rise in OPEC production and U.S. oil rig additions continued to weigh on the market. [O/R]SolarCity jumped 7.4 percent to $28.68 in premarket trading after Tesla said the two companies have agreed to merge. Tesla was down 0.3 percent at $234.00.(Reporting by Tanya Agrawal in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)Join the conversation about this story
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