Stocks Rise at Start of Busiest US Earnings Week: Markets Wrap

(Bloomberg) — Stocks rose at the start of the busiest week for corporate earnings, with traders also gearing up for three high-profile economic reports that will set the stage for the next Federal Reserve decision. Oil tumbled.

A week before Fed gathers to reflect on the appropriate tempo of interest-rates cuts, data is set to show underlying resilience in the US economy and a temporary hiccup in jobs growth. Investors are also awaiting results from firms accounting for nearly 42% of the S&P 500’s market capitalization, including several members of the “Magnificent Seven” group such as Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Meta Platforms Inc.

“This week’s megacap tech earnings and jobs data will provide plenty of potential fuel for near-term market momentum, but it remains to be seen whether investors will want to sit on their hands until after next week’s election, especially given the volatility around the past two,” said Chris Larkin at E*Trade from Morgan Stanley. “The S&P 500 sold off the week before the 2016 and 2020 elections and rallied sharply after them.”

The S&P 500 rose 0.5%. The Nasdaq 100 added 0.5%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.5%.

Treasury 10-year yields were little changed at 4.24%. Oil tumbled more than 6% at the start of the week after Israeli strikes against targets in Iran avoided the OPEC member’s crude facilities, raising the prospect for easing hostilities in the region.

Corporate Highlights:

• McDonald’s Corp. says Quarter Pounders will return to menus at all restaurants this week after ruling out beef patties as the source of a multistate E. coli outbreak that has sickened dozens and left one person dead.
• Boeing Co. launched a nearly $19 billion share sale, one of the largest ever by a public company, to address the troubled planemaker’s liquidity needs and stave off a potential credit rating downgrade to junk.
• Volkswagen AG plans to close at least three factories in Germany as Europe’s biggest automaker tries to slash expenses to become more competitive.

Key events this week:

• US job openings, Conference Board consumer confidence, Tuesday
• Alphabet earnings, Tuesday
• Eurozone consumer confidence, GDP, Wednesday
• US GDP, ADP employment, pending home sales, Wednesday
• Meta Platforms, Microsoft earnings, Wednesday
• US Treasury Department holds quarterly refunding announcement of bond-auction plans, Wednesday
• China Manufacturing and non-manufacturing PMI, Thursday
• Bank of Japan rate decision, Thursday
• Eurozone CPI, unemployment, Thursday
• US personal income, spending and PCE inflation data, initial jobless claims, Thursday
• Amazon, Apple earnings, Thursday
• China Caixin manufacturing PMI, Friday
• US employment, ISM manufacturing, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

• The S&P 500 rose 0.5% as of 9:30 a.m. New York time
• The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.5%
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.5%
• The Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.1%
• The MSCI World Index rose 0.4%

Currencies

• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed
• The euro rose 0.2% to $1.0816
• The British pound rose 0.2% to $1.2986
• The Japanese yen fell 0.2% to 152.62 per dollar

Cryptocurrencies

• Bitcoin rose 1.8% to $68,877.34
• Ether rose 1.4% to $2,524.18

Bonds

• The yield on 10-year Treasuries was little changed at 4.24%
• Germany’s 10-year yield declined four basis points to 2.26%
• Britain’s 10-year yield declined three basis points to 4.20%

Commodities

• West Texas Intermediate crude fell 6.2% to $67.32 a barrel
• Spot gold fell 0.3% to $2,738.77 an ounce

This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.

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