08:49 AM EDT, 07/08/2024 (MT Newswires) -- US equity futures were flat before Monday's opening bell as traders stayed on the sidelines ahead of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's congressional testimony and inflation data later in the week.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures gained 0.1%, S&P 500 futures increased 0.08%, and Nasdaq futures were up 0.07%.

Powell will kick off his two-day semiannual monetary policy testimony on Tuesday.

The consumer price index is scheduled for release on Thursday.

Oil prices were lower, with front-month global benchmark North Sea Brent crude down 0.47% at $86.13 per barrel and US West Texas Intermediate crude down 0.64% at $82.63 per barrel, amid expectations for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Consumer credit, due at 3 pm ET, is expected to increase by $10.7 billion in May versus April's $6.4 billion increase, according to estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

In other world markets, Japan's Nikkei closed 0.3% lower, Hong Kong's Hang Seng ended 1.6% lower, and China's Shanghai Composite finished 0.9% lower. Meanwhile, UK's FTSE 100 gained 0.2% and Germany's DAX index increased 0.3% in Europe's early afternoon session.

In equities, shares of Morphic Holding ( MORF ) were 75% higher pre-bell on a pending $3.2 billion takeover by Eli Lilly ( LLY ) .

On the losing side, Tesla (TSLA) shares fell 1.3% after a Reuters report that company shareholders are set to appear in court to urge the judge to reject $7 billion in legal fees related to CEO Elon Musk's pay package.