Wall Street pointed higher early Monday as markets prepare to absorb a slew of high-profile economic data this week.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials and the S&P 500 each rose about 0.3% before the bell.
Economic reports coming this week include trade, jobless claims, vehicle sales, and the government's comprehensive March jobs report.
The U.S. stock market has been on a hot streak since late October, and the S&P 500 just capped its fifth straight winning month. It has leaped as the U.S. economy has remained remarkably solid despite high interest rates meant to get inflation under control.
And with inflation hopefully still cooling from its peak, the Federal Reserve has indicated it will likely cut interest rates several times later this year.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell on Friday reiterated that the central bank expects to cut interest rates this year, but won’t be ready to do so until it sees evidence that annual price increases are falling toward its 2% target. Powell will speak publicly again on Wednesday at Stanford University.
The Fed responded to sizzling pandemic-induced inflation by aggressively raising its benchmark rate beginning in March 2022. Eventually, it would raise its key rate 11 times to a 23-year high of around 5.4%. The resulting higher borrowing costs helped bring inflation down — from a peak of 9.1% in June 2022 to 3.2% last month. But year-over-year price increases still remain above the Fed’s 2% target.
In corporate news, UPS shares rose 2% after the package delivery company said it will become the primary air cargo provider for the United States Postal Service, significantly expanding an existing partnership between the two. Shares of FedEx, UPS's chief rival, fell 1.9% before the bell Monday.
Asian shares were mixed on Monday, with Shanghai gaining 1% after surveys showed improvements in manufacturing conditions in China.
Sydney and Hong Kong were closed for the Easter Monday holiday.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 fell 1.4%, to 39,803.09, after a Bank of Japan quarterly survey on business conditions showed sentiment among large manufacturers, which include auto and electronics giants, declined in March for the first time in a year.
The Shanghai Composite index gained 1.2% to 3,077.38.
China’s National Bureau of Statistics released survey data on Sunday that showed the country’s official manufacturing PMI, or purchasing managers index, coming in at 50.8 in March, its strongest reading since March 2023.
A similar but separate survey, the Caixin/S&P Global China manufacturing purchasing managers’ index, was 51.1 in March — its strongest since February 2023. It was at 50.9 in February. The rankings are on a scale of up to 100, where 50 marks the cutoff between expansion and contraction.
“Chinese manufacturers increased production, while also raising their purchasing levels amid improved optimism,” the report said.
“A slew of policies introduced earlier this year to stabilize growth are gradually having an effect," Wang Zhe, senior economist at Caixin Insight Group, said in a statement.
China's target for “about 5%” economic growth is “ambitious,” he said. Given pressures that are constraining employment and keeping prices low, efforts will be needed to make growth more efficient and improve its quality, he added.
The World Bank released a report forecasting that economies in developing countries of East Asia and the Pacific will grow 4.5% this year, down from 5.1% in 2023. It estimates that China’s economy will expand at a 4.5% annual pace this year, down from 5.2% in 2023.
Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea's Kospi edged less than 0.1% higher, to 2,747.86 and the Sensex in India was up 0.5%. In Bangkok, the SET rose 0.1%.
In other trading, the U.S. dollar rose to 151.38 Japanese yen from 151.29 yen. The euro edged lower, to $1.0784 from $1.0794.
U.S. benchmark crude oil shed 11 cents to $83.06 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was up $1.82 per barrel on Thursday, before markets closed for Good Friday and Easter.
Brent crude, the international standard, gave up 16 cents to $86.84 per barrel. On Thursday, it surged $1.59 to $87.00 per barrel.
Markets in the U.S. and Europe were closed on Friday. European markets will remain closed Monday, while U.S. markets will reopen.
On Thursday, Wall Street coasted to its latest winning month and quarter by rising to more records. The S&P 500 rose 0.1%, adding to its all-time high set the day before.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ticked up 0.1% to 39,807.37 and likewise set a record. The Nasdaq composite dipped 0.1% to 16,379.46.
A currency trader passes by the screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, April 1, 2024. Asian shares were mixed Monday, with Shanghai gaining 1% after surveys showed improvements in manufacturing conditions in China.(AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
A currency trader passes by the screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, April 1, 2024. Asian shares were mixed Monday, with Shanghai gaining 1% after surveys showed improvements in manufacturing conditions in China.(AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
A currency trader walks by the screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, April 1, 2024. Asian shares were mixed Monday, with Shanghai gaining 1% after surveys showed improvements in manufacturing conditions in China. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The man who broke into the home of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi seeking to hold her hostage and bludgeoned her husband with a hammer was sentenced Friday to 30 years in prison.
But prosecutors later filed a motion saying the court failed to offer the defendant, David DePape, an opportunity “to speak or present any information to mitigate the sentence" as required by federal rule. They asked the court to reopen the sentencing portion to allow him that option. The court did not immediately respond.
A jury found DePape, 44, guilty in November of attempted kidnapping of a federal official and assault on the immediate family member of a federal official. Prosecutors had asked for a 40-year prison term.
The attack on Paul Pelosi, who was 82 at the time, was captured on police body camera video just days before the 2022 midterm elections and sent shockwaves through the political world. He suffered two head wounds including a skull fracture that was mended with plates and screws he will have for the rest of his life. His right arm and hand were also injured.
Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley sentenced DePape to 20 years for attempted kidnapping and 30 years for the assault, the maximum for both counts. The sentences will run concurrently. He also was given credit for the 18 months he has been in custody.
In its afternoon motion to the court, the U.S. attorney's office said DePape was not given the opportunity by the court to speak before being sentenced and that could present an issue.
DePape's defense, however, said they opposed bringing back their client to court and filed a notice of appeal, according to the filing. Prosecutors and defense counsel did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment late Friday.
The court has 14 days to correct a sentence resulting from error, prosecutors said.
DePape stood silently as he was sentenced and looked down at times. His public defense attorneys had asked the judge to sentence him to 14 years, pointing out that he was going through a difficult period in his life at the time of the attack, had undiagnosed mental health issues and had no prior criminal history.
At trial, DePape testified that he had planned to wear an inflatable unicorn costume and record his interrogation of the Democratic speaker, who was not at her San Francisco home at the time of the attack, to upload it online.
Ahead of the sentencing, one of his defense attorneys, Angela Chuang, told the judge to consider the prison terms being given to those who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
"The five most serious sentences for people who were convicted of seditious conspiracy, of literally conspiring to overthrow the government, range from 15 to 22 years," Chuang said.
Corley said the Jan. 6 analogy didn’t adequately reflect the seriousness of breaking into an official's private home. The attack may have a chilling effect on people seeking office in the future, she said.
“They have to think not only, ‘Am I willing to take that risk myself, but am I willing to risk my spouse, my children, my grandchildren?’” the judge said.
Prosecutors asked for the maximum sentence on each count and for DePape to serve 10 years concurrently, giving him a 40-year prison term.
Before sentencing, Christine Pelosi read her father and mother's victim statements, explaining how the violent attack changed their lives. In Paul Pelosi's statement, he explained that 18 months after the attack, he still gets headaches and vertigo and has fainted and fallen twice at home.
“Once you are attacked in such a public and political manner, with such threatening language, you always have to fear a copycat,” Nancy Pelosi said in her statement. “When I encourage people, especially women to consider running for office, physical threats to the family should not even be a factor, but they are.”
Both Paul and Nancy Pelosi said there are still bloodstains on the floor and other signs of the break-in at their home.
“Our home remains a heartbreaking crime scene,” Nancy Pelosi wrote.
DePape admitted during trial testimony that he broke into the Pelosis’ home Oct. 28, 2022, intending to hold the speaker hostage and “break her kneecaps” if she lied to him. He also admitted to bludgeoning Paul Pelosi with a hammer after police showed up, saying his plan to end what he viewed as government corruption was unraveling.
Defense attorneys argued DePape was motivated by his political beliefs, not because he wanted to interfere with Nancy Pelosi’s official duties as a member of Congress, making the charges against him invalid.
Chuang, one of his attorneys, said during closing arguments that DePape was estranged from his family and was caught up in conspiracy theories.
Sky Gonzalez, David DePape’s son, told reporters outside court the 30-year prison term was equivalent to getting a death sentence.
“I think that’s quite sad. I think that’s a really long time, because if you think about it, he’s already nearly 50. Basically, it’s just a death sentence," Gonzalez said before repeating the same conspiracy theories his father wrote about before the attack.
At trial DePape, a Canadian who moved to the U.S. more than 20 years ago, testified that he believed news outlets repeatedly lied about former President Donald Trump. In rants posted on a blog and online forum that were taken down after his arrest, DePape echoed the baseless, right-wing QAnon conspiracy theory that claims a cabal of devil-worshipping pedophiles runs the U.S. government.
Prosecutors said he had rope and zip ties with him, and detectives found body cameras, a computer and a tablet.
Paul Pelosi recalled at the trial how he was awakened by a large man bursting into the bedroom and asking, “Where’s Nancy?” He said that when he responded that his wife was in Washington, DePape said he would tie him up while they waited for her.
“It was a tremendous sense of shock to recognize that somebody had broken into the house, and looking at him and looking at the hammer and the ties, I recognized that I was in serious danger, so I tried to stay as calm as possible,” Pelosi told jurors.
DePape also is charged in state court with assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, residential burglary and other felonies. Jury selection in that trial is expected to start Wednesday.
Sergio Lopez, acting assistant agent in charge of the FBI, speaks to reporters after the sentencing of David DePape in federal court Friday, May 17, 2024, in San Francisco. DePape was found guilty last November of attempted kidnapping of a federal official and assault on Paul Pelosi, husband of former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)
Sergio Lopez, acting assistant agent in charge of the FBI, speaks to reporters after the sentencing of David DePape in federal court Friday, May 17, 2024, in San Francisco. DePape was found guilty last November of attempted kidnapping of a federal official and assault on Paul Pelosi, husband of former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)
Gypsy Taub, ex-partner of David DePape, speaks to reporters after DePape's sentencing in federal court Friday, May 17, 2024, in San Francisco. He was found guilty last November of attempted kidnapping of a federal official and assault on Paul Pelosi, husband of former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)
FILE - Paul Pelosi attends a portrait unveiling ceremony for his wife, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., in Statuary Hall at the Capitol in Washington, Dec. 14, 2022. David DePape who was convicted last year in federal court of breaking into former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's San Francisco home will be sentenced in federal court Friday, May 16, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
FILE – David DePape is seen, Dec. 13, 2013, in Berkeley, Calif. DePape convicted of attempting to kidnap then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and attacking her husband with a hammer is set to be sentenced in federal court Friday, May 17, 2024. (Michael Short/San Francisco Chronicle via AP, File)
FILE - In this image taken from San Francisco Police Department body-camera video, the husband of former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Paul Pelosi, right, fights for control of a hammer with his assailant David DePape during a brutal attack in the couple's San Francisco home, on Oct. 28, 2022. DePape convicted of attempting to kidnap then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and attacking her husband with a hammer is set to be sentenced in federal court Friday, May 17, 2024. (San Francisco Police Department via AP, File)
