Stock futures were little changed Monday after the S&P 500 registered its best week of 2024. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 7 points, trading near flat. S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures both ticked higher by just around 0.1%. Stocks are coming off a winning week amid a volatile stretch for equities. The broad S&P 500 rallied 3.9% for its best week since 2023. The Nasdaq Composite and Dow added 5.2% and 2.9%, respectively. August had gotten off to a turbulent start after disappointing data fueled recession fears and bolstered concerns that the Federal Reserve was behind the curve on lowering interest rates. Those worries sparked a global sell-off, pushing the S&P 500 on Aug. 5 to record its worst day since 2022. But fresh data last week seemed to subdue an anxious market and boost hopes that the economy can attain a soft landing scenario. Investors saw good stats on retail sales and initial jobless claims, in addition to strong earnings from Walmart. On top of that, the 12-month inflation rate measured by July’s consumer price index slowed to 2.9%. That marked its lowest reading in more than three years. “The market has almost fully recovered from the overblown recession fears earlier this month,” said Greg Marcus, managing director pf UBS Private Wealth Management. But, “we expect volatility to remain high for the rest of the year.” Now, Wall Street is looking ahead to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s Friday speech at the central bank’s symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Before then, traders will parse minutes from the Federal Reserve’s most recent meeting due on Wednesday. Investors are hoping for insights into the path of interest rates amid mounting hopes for a forthcoming cut. “While we do remain generally bullish, we don’t see a straight line up in the market,” Marcus said. “The economy is slowing and there will likely be a mix of conflicting economic data points over the coming months, which is set to continue this recessionary debate.” The Democratic National Convention also kicks off Monday. U.S. Treasury yields inched lower on Monday, with the release of Federal Reserve meeting minutes and the closely watched central bank symposium at Jackson Hole on the agenda this week. The yield on the 10-year Treasury slid more than 2 basis points lower at 3.864%. The 2-year Treasury yield also dropped around 2 basis points to 4.045%. Asia-Pacific markets were mixed on Monday after a week that saw a broad rally in stocks, as investors awaited a slew of central bank releases and inflation data this week. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was down 1.77%, closing at 37,388.62 while the broad-based Topix fell 1.4% to end at 2,641.14. Both indexes snapped five-day winning streaks. South Korea’s Kospi slipped 0.85% to close at 2,674.36, and the small-cap Kosdaq slid 1.13% to finish at 777.47. On the other hand, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 0.81% as of its final hour of trade, while the mainland CSI 300 was up 0.34%, marking a third straight day of gains and ending at 3,356.97. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 inched up 0.12%, closing at 7,980.4. Oil prices eased in early Asian trading on Monday as fears of weaker demand in top oil importer China weighed on market sentiment while investors focus on the progress of ceasefire talks in the Middle East, which could reduce supply risks. Brent crude futures dropped 13 cents, or 0.2%, to $79.55 per barrel by 0032 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures slid 13 cents, or 0.2%, to $76.52 a barrel. Both benchmarks fell nearly 2% last Friday as investors tempered expectations of demand growth from China, but ended the week largely unchanged from a week earlier after a batch of U.S. data last week showed inflation was moderating and retail spending was robust. Gold eased on Monday after powering to an all-time high above the important $2,500 per ounce level in the last session on strong safe-haven demand and expectations of an imminent U.S. rate cut as investors seek more cues on the quantum of cuts. Spot gold was down 0.6% at $2,492.68 per ounce, just shy of the record high of $2,509.65 hit on Friday. U.S. gold futures edged 0.3% lower to $2,529.70. “Despite gold having hit a new record high, we expect prices to move even higher over the coming months, with prices expected to reach $2,600/oz by the end of the year,” UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo said.