U.S. stock futures were mixed on Monday, following Friday’s divergence between the Dow Jones and other benchmark indices.

On Sunday, President Donald Trump announced that starting Monday morning, the U.S. will lead an initiative to escort stranded vessels out of the Strait of Hormuz‘s restricted zones. He described the mission as a “humanitarian gesture” aimed at assisting neutral nations affected by the ongoing U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran. This was dubbed as "Project Freedom."

Crude oil futures were higher as traders are also likely to evaluate OPEC+’s decision to raise oil output by 188,000 barrels per day, announced at its first meeting following the exit of key member the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Meanwhile, the 10-year Treasury bond yielded 4.37%, and the two-year bond was at 3.88%. The CME Group's FedWatch tool‘s projections show markets pricing a 94.8% likelihood of the Federal Reserve leaving the current interest rates unchanged during June’s meeting.

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) and Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (NASDAQ:QQQ), which track the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100, respectively, were higher in premarket on Monday. The SPY was up 0.097% at $721.35, while the QQQ advanced 0.22% to $675.64.

Stocks In Focus

GameStop And eBay

• eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY) rose 7.62%, and GameStop Corp. (NYSE:GME) fell 0.96% in premarket on Monday after GME released a proposal to buy eBay for $56 billion in cash and stock.

• Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that EBAY maintains a strong price trend in the short, medium, and long terms, with a solid quality score.

Nebius Group

• Nebius Group NV (NASDAQ:NBIS) rose 3.42% after the company agreed to acquire Eigen AI to expand its AI inference capabilities and strengthen its Nebius Token Factory platform on May 1.

• Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that NBIS maintains a strong price trend in the short, medium, and long terms, with a poor value score.

ON Semiconductor

• ON Semiconductor Corp. (NASDAQ:ON) advanced 1.15% ahead of its earnings before the closing bell. Analysts expect it to report earnings of 60 cents per share on revenue of $1.49 billion.

• Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that ON maintains a strong price trend in the short, medium, and long terms, with a poor growth ranking.

Skycorp Solar Group

• Skycorp Solar Group Ltd. (NASDAQ:PN) soared 93.16% after it announced the acquisition of the remaining stake in Nanjin Cesun Power.

• Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that PN maintains a weak price trend in the short, medium, and long terms.

Williams Companies

• Williams Companies Inc. (NYSE:WMB) was 0.60% higher as analysts expect it to report earnings of 62 cents per share on revenue of $3.11 billion, after the closing bell.

• Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that WMB maintains a strong price trend in the short, medium, and long terms, with a solid growth score.

Cues From Last Session

Information technology and consumer discretionary stocks closed Friday’s session higher, although most sectors on the S&P 500 ended on a negative note, with utilities, energy, and industrials posting the largest losses.

Insights From Analysts

Ed Yardeni maintains a highly optimistic outlook for the U.S. economy and stock market, firmly believing that current trends “are in sync with our Roaring 2020s narrative!”

Yardeni expects continued economic resilience, driven by a robust labor market and steady service sector growth. He projects April’s unemployment rate will drop to 4.2%, supported by a “solid increase in private industry payrolls.” While he anticipates a slight jump in inflation expectations due to rising gasoline prices, overall economic expansion remains steady and healthy.

Despite record highs, Yardeni dismisses fears of an impending crash, noting that “the stock market balloon is climbing higher, and the burners are firing.” He attributes this growth not to “hot air” but to surging corporate earnings.

-Earnings: Forward earnings are the “single best leading indicator of stock prices,” and they continue to point upward with massive growth expected in 2026 and 2027.-Valuation & Sentiment: He observes that stocks are cheaper than late 2025 and investor sentiment remains lackluster. This combination presents “exactly the profile of a bull market with room to run.”

Upcoming Economic Data

Here's what investors will be keeping an eye on this week.

• On Monday, March’s factory orders data will be released by 10:00 a.m., and New York Fed President John Williams will speak at 12:50 p.m. ET.

• On Tuesday, April’s S&P final U.S. services PMI will be out by 9:45 a.m. ET. March’s job openings, February’s delayed new home sales report, March’s new home sales, and April’s ISM services data will all be released by 10:00 a.m. ET.

• Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman will speak at 10:00 a.m., and Fed Governor Michael Barr will speak at 12:30 p.m. ET.

• On Wednesday, April’s ADP employment data will be released by 8:15 a.m., and Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee will speak at 1:00 p.m. ET.

• On Thursday, initial jobless claims for the week ending May 2 and the first quarter U.S. productivity data will be released by 8:30 a.m. ET.

• February’s delayed construction spending and March’s construction spending data will be out by 10:00 a.m., and Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari will speak at 1:00 p.m. ET.

• March’s consumer credit data will be released by 3:00 p.m., and New York Fed President John Williams will speak at 3:30 p.m. ET.

• On Friday, Fed Governor Lisa Cook will speak in Senegal at 5:45 a.m., and April’s U.S. employment report, unemployment rate, and hourly wages data will all be released by 8:30 a.m. ET.

• March’s wholesale inventories and May’s preliminary consumer sentiment data will be out by 10:00 a.m., and a panel featuring Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee, San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly, and Fed Governors Michelle Bowman and Christopher Waller will take place at 7:30 p.m. ET.

Commodities, Crypto, And Global Equity Markets

Crude oil futures were trading higher in the early New York session by 1.49% to hover around $103.46 per barrel.

Gold Spot US Dollar fell 0.81% to hover around $4,577.42 per ounce. Its last record high stood at $5,595.46 per ounce. The U.S. Dollar Index spot was 0.09% higher at the 98.2400 level.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) was trading 1.69 higher at $79,741.48 per coin, as per the last 24 hours.

Asian markets closed mixed on Monday, as China’s CSI 300 and Australia's ASX 200 indices fell, whereas South Korea's Kospi, Hong Kong's Hang Seng, India’s Nifty 50, and Japan's Nikkei 225 indices rose. European markets were also mixed in early trade.

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