Wall Street closes higher ahead of megacap earnings, election

By Abigail Summerville

October 29, 20246:23 AM GMT+7 Updated 13 hours ago

Oct 28 (Reuters) - Wall Street closed higher on Monday ahead of a packed week of earnings from megacap companies and the final stretch before the Nov. 5 presidential election, while sentiment improved after energy supplies were not disrupted by weekend developments in the Middle East.

Israel's response over the weekend to an Iranian missile attack this month focused, so far, on missile factories and other sites near Tehran, rather than on refineries or nuclear targets.

Wall Street was focused on the week ahead, notably corporate results, with around 169 S&P 500 companies scheduled to report through the week.

That includes the bulk of the "Magnificent Seven" group of megacap technology stocks that have driven Wall Street to all-time highs. Alphabet (GOOGL.O), opens new tab, Meta Platforms (META.O), opens new tab and Apple (AAPL.O), opens new tab rose ahead of results this week.

The S&P 500 (.SPX), opens new tab gained 15.4 points, or 0.27%, to 5,823.52, while the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC), opens new tab gained 48.58 points, or 0.26%, to 18,567.19. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI), opens new tab rose 273.17 points, or 0.65%, to 42,387.57

Last week, Nvidia (NVDA.O), opens new tab surpassed Apple as the world's most valuable company. Investors will look out for AI spending guidance in tech earnings this week.

"The earnings will be important for the guidance that the companies give as to what sort of capital expenditure programs they may implement in the coming year," said Paul Christopher, head of Global Investment Strategy at Wells Fargo Investment Institute.

Microsoft (MSFT.O), opens new tab and Amazon.com (AMZN.O), opens new tab also report earnings this week.

Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., September 9, 2024. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo

The small-cap Russell 2000 (.RUT), opens new tab jumped 1.63% today, outperforming major indexes.

"This could be the market looking ahead to a soft landing and expecting small caps to be first out of the gate as they typically are," Christopher said. "It could also be some element related to the Trump trade but it's very difficult to disentangle those two."

The energy sector (.SPNY), opens new tab fell 0.65% as crude prices plunged 5% on easing supply worries, while financial company shares <.SPSY> led sectoral gains.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.88-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. There were 147 new highs and 41 new lows on the NYSE.

The S&P 500 posted 15 new 52-week highs and 2 new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 101 new highs and 67 new lows.

Economic data due this week will be crucial for assessment of Federal Reserve policy, most notably Thursday's Personal Consumption Expenditure Price Index, the Fed's preferred inflation gauge.

Focus will also be on the U.S. presidential election, with markets more broadly pricing in a second Donald Trump administration, though the election is expected to be close.

Boeing's (BA.N), opens new tab shares dipped 2.8% after the planemaker launched a stock offering that could raise up to $22 billion in a bid to shore up its finances amid an ongoing worker strike.

Industrial conglomerate 3M (MMM.N), opens new tab jumped 4.4%, giving a boost to the Dow, after JP Morgan hiked its price target on the company's shares.

Source: Reuters.com