U.S. stock indexes are drifting in mixed trading Monday ahead of a week full of earnings reports from Wall Street’s most influential companies and a Federal Reserve meeting on interest rates. The S&P 500 was up 0.3% in morning trading, coming off its first back-to-back weekly losses since April. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 67 points, or 0.2%, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.7% higher.
Quick Read
- Wall Street poised for gains as markets ready for a busy week of earnings
- Futures for the S&P 500 advanced 0.5%, while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.4%.
- The U.S. Federal Reserve is expected to keep its benchmark rate unchanged at its policy meeting on Wednesday but might hint at a rate cut in September.
- U.S. jobs data will be released on Friday.
- Over 170 companies in the S&P 500 will report earnings this week, including four of the “Magnificent Seven”—Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, and Apple.
- McDonald’s shares ticked up less than 1% despite weak second-quarter sales.
- In Europe, Germany’s DAX gained 0.2%, the CAC 40 fell 0.5%, and London’s FTSE rose 0.9%.
- In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei surged 2.1%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 1.3%, Shanghai Composite was nearly unchanged, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 advanced 0.9%, and South Korea’s Kospi jumped 1.2%.
- Key focus in Asian markets includes the Bank of Japan’s monetary policy meeting on Wednesday, where an interest rate hike is expected.
- In early dealings, U.S. benchmark crude oil fell 24 cents to $76.92 per barrel, and Brent crude was down 28 cents at $80 per barrel.
- The euro fell to $1.0817 from $1.0857, while Bitcoin rose to $69,724, flirting with all-time highs.
- On Friday, the S&P 500 jumped 1.1%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average soared 1.6%, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 1%, boosted by better-than-expected profits from companies like 3M and positive inflation updates.
The Associated Press has the story:
Wall Street drifts in mixed trading ahead of a frenetic week
Newslooks- NEW YORK- (AP)
U.S. stock indexes are drifting in mixed trading Monday ahead of a week full of earnings reports from Wall Street’s most influential companies and a Federal Reserve meeting on interest rates. The S&P 500 was up 0.3% in morning trading, coming off its first back-to-back weekly losses since April. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 67 points, or 0.2%, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.7% higher. ON Semiconductor helped lead the market and jumped 12.8% after the supplier to the auto and other industries reported stronger profit for the spring than analysts expected. McDonald’s rose 3.3% after flipping an earlier loss. It reported profit and revenue for the latest quarter that fell shy of forecasts, but analysts said its performance at U.S. restaurants wasn’t as bad as some investors feared.
Even bigger names are set to report later this week: Microsoft on Tuesday, Apple and Amazon on Wednesday and Meta Platforms on Thursday. Their stock movements carry more weight on Wall Street than virtually anyone else’s because they are among the largest by market value. Such Big Tech stocks had been screaming consistently higher, in part due to investors’ frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology, but they ran out of momentum this month amid criticism they’ve grown too expensive, and as alternatives began to look more attractive. Last week, profit reports from Tesla and Alphabet that investors found underwhelming raised concerns that other stocks in what’s known as the “Magnificent Seven” could also fail to impress.
What’s helped support the U.S. stock market even as these behemoths weaken is strength from areas beaten down earlier by high interest rates meant to get inflation under control. Smaller stocks in particular have soared on expectations that slowing inflation will get the Federal Reserve to soon begin cutting interest rates. The smaller stocks in the Russell 2000 index was edging down by 0.1% Monday, but it’s still up by a market-leading 10.3% for the month so far. Since the Federal Reserve began raising interest rates in March 2022 to counter inflation, he added, “the big market blunder has been prematurely anticipating rate cuts — way too early and far too aggressively. It’s like expecting dessert before finishing the main course.” Earnings seasons also gains steam this week, with more than 170 companies in the S&P 500 reporting. Four of the so-called Magnificent Seven report this week: Microsoft on Tuesday, Meta on Wednesday and Amazon and Apple on Thursday.
McDonald’s ticked up less than 1% before markets opened Monday despite the burger chain posting weak second-quarter sales. Sales at locations open at least a year fell 1% worldwide across every company segment in the April-June period, the first decline since the final quarter of 2020 when the pandemic shuttered stores. In the U.S., same-store sales fell nearly 1%. In Europe at midday, Germany’s DAX picked up 0.2%, while the CAC 40 was down 0.5%. In London, the FTSE was up 0.9%. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index surged 2.1% to 38,468.63.
The Fed will hold its latest policy meeting on interest rates this week, with an announcement coming on Wednesday. Virtually no one expects a move then, but the widespread expectation is that it will begin easing at its following meeting in September. The yield on the 10-year Treasury slipped to 4.17% from 4.19% late Friday and from 4.70% in April. On the losing end of Wall Street, Abbott Laboratories dropped 4.4% for the largest loss in the S&P 500. Analysts said a jury award of nearly $500 million in compensation and damages against the company in a case related to its Similac baby formula was likely higher than some investors may have been expecting.
The key focus in Asian markets this week will be the Bank of Japan’s monetary policy meeting on Wednesday, where investors widely expect the central bank to raise its key interest rate from its near-zero level to perhaps up to 0.3%. The Japanese yen was slightly firmer against the U.S. dollar on early Monday, but then reversed direction, with the dollar trading at 153.91 yen, up from 153.72 yen. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 1.3% to 17,248.34.
Shares in Fuyao Glass, a manufacturer of automotive glass, fell 5.9% after reports said one of Fuyao Glass America’s facilities in Moraine, Ohio, was raided by U.S. law enforcement agencies on Friday. “Fuyao America will fully cooperate with the investigation by the U.S. Government agencies,” the company said in a notice to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
The Shanghai Composite index was nearly unchanged at 2,891.85 after official data on Saturday showed that industrial profits rose 3.5% in the first half of 2024 compared with last year. That was a glimmer of positive news following recent interest rate cuts and other piecemeal stimulus that followed a top-level policy meeting of the ruling Communist Party earlier this month.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 advanced 0.9% to 7,989.60. In South Korea, the Kospi jumped 1.2%, to 2,765.53. Elsewhere, Taiwan’s Taiex gained 0.2%. The SET in Bangkok was closed for a holiday. In other dealings early Monday, U.S. benchmark crude oil fell 24 cents to $76.92 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, the international standard, was down 28 cents at $80 per barrel. The euro fell to $1.0817 from $1.0857. Bitcoin rose to $69,724 flirting with all-time highs.
On Friday, the S&P 500 jumped 1.1% for its best day in seven weeks after 3M and several other big companies delivered better profits for the spring than analysts expected. The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared 1.6% and the Nasdaq composite climbed 1%. Stocks broadly got a boost from an update on inflation, which further cemented investors’ expectations for coming cuts to interest rates.
