“The Treasury market is getting a bit of a bounce because the data has begun to slow a bit, at least on a month-to-month basis,” said Craig Bishop, vice president of U.S. fixed income at RBC Wealth Management.
Other data set for release this week include minutes from the Federal Reserve’s previous meeting and March’s jobs report.
“A lot of focus will be towards some key economic numbers that can very much set the tone for the trading action of this week,” said Naeem Aslam, chief market strategist at Think Markets.
Wall Street also prepared itself for a meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday and Friday. The two leaders are expected to discuss trade and North Korea, among other subjects.
Lukman Otunuga, research analyst at FXTM, said the two-day meeting “may be classified as an event risk.”
“Any complications or tension in the meeting could spark risk aversion consequently pressuring stock markets while boosting attraction for safe-haven assets,” he said.
Stocks closed off a strong first quarter on Friday, with the major indexes posting gains of at least 4.56 percent. That said, the rally stalled last month amid uncertainty about when the Trump administration’s pro-growth policies grew.
“The market has been locked into this trading range,” said Bruce Bittles, chief investment strategist at Baird. “There’s just a loss in upside momentum and I think that’s going to continue into the earnings season.”
Earnings season is around the corner and Wall Street largely expects solid profit growth, especially in the energy sector.
“With almost half of earnings growth expected to come from energy, if oil prices don’t stabilize and start to rise, that could be a problem,” said Nick Raich, CEO of The Earnings Scout.
U.S. crude fell 0.7 percent to settle at $50.24 per barrel. Last month, oil prices dropped 6.3 percent.
The dollar rose 0.2 percent against a basket of currencies, with the euro near $1.067 and the yen around 111.
Overseas, European equities declined, with the Stoxx 600 index falling 0.49 percent. In Asia, stocks rose broadly, as the Nikkei 225, Shanghai composite, Hang Seng index and Kospi all closed higher.
