“US shares experienced an upward trend on Monday, enhancing recent advancements as market players gear up for a bustling week filled with high-level economic statistics and quarterly earnings, notably from the tech industry.
Around 12:55 ET (16:55 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average saw an upsurge of 286 points, translating to a 0.7% increase. Concurrently, the S&P 500 Index and Nasdaq Composite Index experienced a rise of 0.4% and 0.5% respectively.
Ahead of significant earnings reports, the tech sector has been a major contributor to recent gains. Tech stocks are witnessing increased investment positioning in anticipation of key earnings announcements this week. The Nasdaq reached a record intraday high due to the upcoming earnings reports from five of Wall Street’s ‘Magnificent Seven’.
Google’s parent, Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL), will release its earnings report on Tuesday, followed by Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: FB) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) on Wednesday, and finally Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) on Thursday.
The earnings of these five corporations will act as a market barometer due to their significant share in Wall Street’s market valuation. The reports will also indicate whether the AI trade continues to dominate, given the increased capital expenditures on new technologies by these corporate giants.
Aside from the key earnings reports, other economic indicators will also be in focus this week, particularly the monthly jobs report set to be released on Friday. The report is speculated to reveal an October job growth slowdown to a moderate 111,000, due to the impacts of labor strikes and disruptions caused by Hurricanes Helene and Milton. The unemployment rate is expected to remain steady at 4.1%.
While transitory factors affecting the payroll numbers will likely be overlooked by Federal Reserve officials, data for September’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Thursday’s labor market report will be closely scrutinized for any signs of a weakening labor market.
Third-quarter GDP data is slated for release on Wednesday, followed by a report on personal income and spending on Thursday, which includes the Fed’s favored inflation indicator, the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index.
The upcoming presidential election, scheduled for November 5th, is also drawing attention. Republican candidate Donald Trump and Democratic contender, Vice President Kamala Harris, are currently neck and neck in national and swing state polls. However, Trump has seen a slight uptick in recent weeks and is the slight favorite in election prediction markets.
In the commodities market, crude oil prices experienced a sharp drop following Israel’s retaliatory strike against Iran over the weekend. Thankfully, key nuclear and oil facilities were spared. Iran indicated minimal damage from the attack, reducing fears of a larger conflict in the Middle East, which could have potentially drawn the US into war.
The initial concern was that any assault on Iran’s oil and nuclear facilities could dramatically escalate the conflict, leading to a disruption in oil supplies from the oil-rich region.
Contributions to this article were made by Peter Nurse and Ambar Warrick.”
