Stock futures open slightly higher after another record month for the S&P 500

U.S. equity futures opened slightly higher on Tuesday night after the S&P 500 posted a seven-month winning streak in August.

Futures contracts on the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 36 points, or 0.10%. S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.11% and 0.05%, respectively.

In regular trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 39.11 points, or 0.11%, to close at 35,360.73. The S&P 500 lost 0.13% and the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.04%.

The major averages all ended up for August. The S&P 500 rose 2.9% for the month, up for the seventh consecutive month. The Nasdaq Composite gained around 4% and while the Dow lagged it still added 1.2%.

Some strategists are on the lookout for a correction in September as stocks haven’t had a significant one since last October, combined with the much-anticipated Federal Reserve Bank meeting in September and lingering concern about the delta Covid variant.

“While this bull market has scoffed at almost any sign of worry in 2021, let’s not forget that September is historically the worst month of the year for stocks,” said Ryan Detrick, chief markets strategist financial resources of LPL. “Even last year, in the face of a huge rally from the March 2020 lows, we saw a correction of almost 10% in mid-September.”

He added that any weakness could be short term and contained in the 5-8% range.

“This bull market is alive and well and we would view any potential weakness as an opportunity,” he said.

Investors are focusing on August data on non-farm wages in the United States, which is expected to be released later this week, to get a glimpse of the possible path of the Fed’s monetary policy. Dow Jones economists predict that 750,000 jobs were created in August and that the unemployment rate fell to 5.2%.

Campbell Soup is expected to report profits before the bell Wednesday. Brown-Forman will report after the bells ring.