Trader working on the New York Stock Exchange floor in New York City (USA), June 30, 2021.Stock futures closed flat overnight Monday morning as Wall Street prepares to start the holiday-shortened week by setting the record S&P 500 high.The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose only 30 points. Futures on the S&P 500 were unchanged, while futures on the Nasdaq 100 fell less than 0.1%. The July 4 Independence Day holiday saw the U.S. markets remain closed.West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose to $76 a bar after OPEC's key meeting with its partners on crude output policy was postponed. This was due to the United Arab Emirates rejecting a proposal to extend oil output for a second time.With a string economic report including a stronger-than-expected Friday jobs report, the S&P 500 is on a seven-day winning streak. In the previous session, the record-setting Nasdaq Composite, a tech-heavy index, also hit a new high.According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 850,000 new jobs were created in August. Dow Jones surveyed economists and they expected an increase of 706,000.Wall Street is still expecting smaller gains in the second half of the year, despite a strong performance during the first quarter amid an historic economic reopening. The S&P 500 has risen nearly 16% in the past year.The US economy is growing, but it is now well-known and the asset markets are reflected this. It is not clear at this point at what cost this growth will occur," Michael Wilson (chief U.S equity strategist at Morgan Stanley) stated in a note.Wilson stated that higher costs equal lower profits. Another reason why equity markets have been shrinking is because equity markets are likely take a rest this summer as the heat up.According to the CNBC Market Strategist Survey, which gathered 16 top strategists' forecasts, Wall Street's consensus year end target for the S&P 500 is at 4,276, which represents a nearly 2% decline from Friday's close.Investors are waiting for the June Federal Open Market Committee minutes to be released on Wednesday. This will provide clues as to the central bank's behind the scenes discussions about ending its quantitative easing program.
