NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock futures wavered Monday with continued optimism about recently announced measures in Europe to stave off a debt crisis and hopes that interest rates there will be cut this week. Gains were tempered, however, on more evidence of a slowdown in China.
Investors also awaited the U.S. jobs report for June set to be released Friday.
Dow Jones industrial average futures fell 11 points to 12,797 on Monday. Standard & Poor's 500 futures rose half a point to 1,356.90 and Nasdaq futures slipped 1.75 points to 2,608.
China's manufacturing grew at the slowest pace in seven months in June, according to a survey released over the weekend. That could signal limited power in Beijing to forestall a more rapid decline for the world's second largest economy.
Problems in Europe hit China's exporting sector at the same time that the government attempted to cool off red-hot real estate prices.
The state-affiliated China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing said that its purchasing managers' index, or PMI, fell 0.2 percentage points to 50.2 percent in June, just above the 50 level that signifies expansion. The index was at 50.4 in May, 53.3 in April and 53.1 in March.
As China cools off its construction industry, the sector is showing signs of strength in the U.S.
The Commerce Department posts construction spending numbers for May on Monday and economists are predicting an increase of 0.2 percent, according to a survey by FactSet.
The annual rate of spending is 7.6 percent above a 12-year low hit in March 2011. Still, the pace is only about half what economists consider healthy.
A growing number of economic data suggests a slow, but steady rebound for the housing market after a five year lull.
Shares of homebuilders were mixed as well in premarket trading.
