The major stock indexes were mostly higher in early trading on Monday at the outset of another busy week of quarterly earnings reports and the release of key private sector employment data.
The S&P 500 was up 0.2% shortly after markets opened, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 0.7%. The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.2%. A strong earnings report from tech giant Amazon (AMZN) helped propel the major indexes to gains last Friday, capping off a winning week and month for stocks.
It’s set to be another busy week of earnings, starting with software maker Palantir (PLTR), scheduled to report after the bell Monday. Investors will be hoping big tech’s massive investments in artificial intelligence are a boon to sales at chipmakers Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Qualcomm (QCOM), both of which are slated to report later in the week.
Investors would normally be getting vital updates on the labor market this week, which has softened more than most economists expected this year, but most economic data will continue to be delayed as the U.S. government shutdown stretches into a second month. Instead, investors will have to make do with alternate sources, like payroll provider ADP’s monthly private-sector jobs report.
Investors are watching the labor market closely to gauge the likelihood that the Federal Reserve follows up last week’s interest rate cut with another reduction at its final meeting of the year in December. Fed Chair Jerome Powell last week warned another cut is “not a foregone conclusion,” but it remains the most likely outcome according to Wall Street.
Tech stocks got a boost Monday morning after Microsoft (MSFT) struck a $10 billion cloud computing deal with Australia-based neocloud IREN (IREN), shares of which skyrocketed about 40%. Microsoft shares were recently up about 1%, while Nvidia (NVDA), whose chips Microsoft will be gaining access to with the IREN deal, rose 3%. Amazon stock extended last week’s gains, rising 5%. Meta (META) and Tesla (TSLA) each rose about 1%, while Alphabet (GOOG) ticked down about 0.5% and Apple (AAPL) stock slid 1%.
In other corporate news, consumer products giant Kimberly-Clark (KMB) agreed to buy Tylenol maker Kenvue (KVUE) in a deal valued at more than $40 billion. Kenvue shares popped 16%, while Kimberly-Clark dropped about 12%. Shares of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) dipped after the conglomerate on Saturday reported a more than 30% increase in operating profit, driven by strong insurance underwriting results. The report was Berkshire’s last with legendary investor Warren Buffett as CEO.
The 10-year Treasury yield, which influences interest rates on all kinds of consumer loans, ticked up to 4.11% from 4.08% at Friday’s close. Gold futures rose 0.8% to $4,030 an ounce, while West Texas Intermediate futures, the U.S. crude oil benchmark, were little changed at $61 a barrel.
Cryptocurrencies slid, with Bitcoin trading at about $107,500, down from a high of more than $111,000 over the weekend. The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the value of the greenback against a basket of foreign currencies, ticked up 0.1% to 99.95, its highest level since late July.