Stocks climb ahead of tech earnings
US stocks edged higher on Monday ahead of a big week of earnings from large tech companies.
Stocks hovered between small gains and losses early in the session, but the major indices were all slightly higher by late morning. The S&P 500 rose 0.2%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.1%. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 0.4%, suggesting gains for tech stocks to start the week.
Strong profits from banks, consumer firms and manufacturers allayed investor concerns over rising inflation and labor shortages. The S&P 500 and the Dow both hit record highs last week.
“One of the most notable lessons from the earnings reports seen so far has been the ability of most companies to pass price increases on to their customers without seeing sales decline,” Michael said. Hewson, Chief Markets Analyst. at CMC Markets.
Still, social media firm Snap’s disappointing results last week could be a “canary in the coal mine for the rest of the tech industry,” Hewson said. Snap warned that stricter privacy rules from Apple would likely reduce its ad sales. If other tech giants show bleak prospects, investors “could see the mood deteriorate pretty quickly,” Hewson said.
Facebook is expected to release its third quarter results on Monday after markets close. Microsoft,
Twitter and Alphabet, the parent company of Google, are scheduled for Tuesday. Apple and Amazon.com are expected to report later this week.
PayPal shares jumped 2.6% after claiming not to pursue Pinterest buyout.
Reports last week of a potential deal pushed PayPal shares down. Pinterest shares fell 14% on Monday.
Tesla shares climbed nearly 7% to $ 972.19, on the verge of closing at an all time high. Hertz said it is ordering 100,000 Teslas, so it can include more electric vehicles in its rental car fleet.
A key question for investors is how the world’s central banks will react to rising prices. Recent short-term UK government bond swaps suggest investors believe the UK government could raise interest rates as early as November. Investors await comments from European Central Bank and Bank of Japan,
who both have meetings scheduled this week. The Federal Reserve has signaled a possible rate hike next year.
Fund managers are also closely monitoring negotiations among U.S. lawmakers over the fate of President Joe Biden’s broad social policy spending program. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Sunday she was optimistic that a deal could be reached this week on the framework for the legislation and a vote on a separate infrastructure finance bill.
Public spending on this scale “will continue to support growth,” said Esty Dwek, chief investment officer of Swiss online bank FlowBank. “The question now is more about taxes and how they’re going to pay for it.”
The benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield fell to 1.631% on Monday from 1.654% on Friday. Yields move inversely with bond prices.
Brent crude, the world’s benchmark for oil, rose 0.2% to trade around $ 85.71. Natural gas prices jumped 9% to $ 5.76.
“The market is increasingly addressing the issues of very expensive natural gas having two effects on the oil markets,” said Bjarne Schieldrop, chief commodity analyst at Nordic bank SEB. The demand for oil is higher due to the switch to diesel from natural gas, but the supply is lower due to higher refining costs, especially for crudes with higher sulfur content, a- he declared.
Bitcoin rose 3.4% on Monday above its 5 p.m. ET level on Friday, trading around $ 62,800. The cryptocurrency faltered after clearing $ 66,000 to a new all-time high last week.
A bitcoin mining facility in upstate New York uses electricity from a hydroelectric power station powered by the Niagara River.
Overseas, the pancontinental Stoxx Europe 600 has remained relatively stable. Among European stocks, HSBC rose 1.3% after announcing a third quarter profit increase and saying it would spend up to $ 2 billion on share buybacks.
Volvo Cars reduced the size of its listing on the Stockholm Stock Exchange and valued its shares at the low end of its suggested range, suggesting that it had struggled to attract enough investor interest. He also postponed his trading debut to Friday.
In Asia, the major benchmarks were mixed. The Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.8% while Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.7%. Panasonic shares rose 4.9% after the Japanese company said it was making a more powerful lithium-ion battery that it planned to supply to Tesla.
The Turkish lira depreciated to its lowest level on record before gaining ground and trading at around 9.66 lira to the dollar on Monday. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to expel the US ambassador and senior diplomats from nine other Western countries over the weekend.
Strong earnings have driven stocks higher over the past week.
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Justin Lane / Shutterstock
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