us stock futures rose monday to kick off a busy week that includes midterm elections that will determine control of congress and economic data that includes the latest read on inflation stocks fell last week with the dow losing 16 the sp 500 down 25 and the nasdaq composite dropping 34 equity futures were firmer as traders await consumer prices data later in the week stocks of late have continued to be primarily in a negative thrall to expectations of the federal reserves rate rise trajectory but traders on monday showed signs of shrugging off such concerns the fed last week delivered a 75 basis point or 075 percentage point rise in the fedfunds rate as expected and signaled future rate moves might be smaller fed chair jerome powell however emphasized that rates would need to move higher than fed officials had previously expected and signaled they may remain elevated cleveland fed president loretta mester and boston fed president susan collins were due to speak monday afternoon while richmond fed president tom barkin was scheduled to deliver remarks on inflation in the evening barkin and collins both spoke publicly on friday barkin argued for slowing the pace of rate hikes but like collins and fed chair jerome powell signaled that its unclear just how high rates will have to go to squelch inflation recapping last week now and the dovish pivot trade pivoted one way and the other across the week but ultimately powellspress conference put the hawks back in the ascendancy said jim reid strategist at deutsche bank barkin also noted that by the time the fed gathers for its december policy decision it will have seen two more consumer prices reports the first coming this thursday before that investors may consider the us midterm elections history suggests the midterms are a big influence on markets as they always seem to rally once midterms or presidential elections are out the way said deutsches reid read what midterms mean for the stock markets best 6 months as favorable calendar stretch gets under way reid added that although his base case was that 2023 would be a bad year for the global economy and risk in every 12month period postmidterms over the last century the equity market has always gone up with the inflection point being immediately after midterms meanwhile a positive turn for asian markets provided some support analysts noted the hang seng climbed nearly 3 chinese leaders are weighing steps toward reopening after nearly three years of tough pandemic restrictions but are proceeding slowly and have set no timeline the wall street journal reported monday citing people familiar with the discussions however apples shares aapl were down 1 after it warned of problems with production of the iphone 14 in china