Dow Rising; Boeing, Nvidia, Trump Media, Ford, More Movers; Israel, Iran Attacks Hit Oil Prices
The stock market is rising as traders prepare for a big week of earnings and economic data.
The S&P 500 was up 0.5%, while the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.6% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average has advanced 287 points, or 0.7%. Helping for the moment is the fact that the price of oil is down 6% as an Israeli attack of Iran spared Iran’s oil capacity.
Traders are looking ahead to Big Tech earnings. Alphabet, Meta Platforms, Microsoft and Apple will all report third-quarter results this week. Investors want to see evidence that these companies are monetizing the artificial intelligence aspects of their businesses and continuing to grow sales aggressively.
Whichever direction these stocks move will help determine the index’s move, since these companies are worth a combined $10 trillion, more than a fifth of the S&P 500.
Later in the week, the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation, the personal consumption expenditures index, hits the wires. Economists are expecting it to have gained 2.1% year over year, a result that would satisfy markets, since the Fed has made clear that it will cut interest rates if inflation is moving down towards 2%.
Friday, the U.S. employment report comes out, and economists are looking for 110,000 job adds for October, which would be lower than September’s 254,000. Markets want to see a strong job market, but not so strong that the Fed wold be less likely to cut rates.
