Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on October 16, 2024.
Spencer Pratt | Getty Images
U.S. stock futures soared this week as investors counted on technology gains from giant stocks to continue pushing the Nasdaq Composite Index to new heights. Cooling geopolitical conditions also supported risk sentiment.
Israel’s airstrikes on Iran over the weekend did not target oil or nuclear facilities as feared, and oil futures fell in early trading.
Futures tracking the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 146 points, or 0.3%. S&P 500 futures rose 0.4% and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.5%.
The market split last weekend. On Friday, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index hit a new intraday high, rising 0.56% to close at 18,518.61. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 259.96 points, or 0.61%, to close at 42,114.40. The broader S&P 500 fell 0.03% to 5,808.12.
The Dow and S&P both ended their six-week winning streaks, while the Nasdaq posted its seventh consecutive positive week.
Wall Street is bracing for a big week for markets, the busiest week of the third-quarter earnings season and the final week before the Nov. 5 U.S. presidential election. Five of the Magnificent Seven are scheduled to announce their third-quarter financial results: Alphabet, Microsoft, Meta Platforms, Amazon, and Apple.
“One of the things we expect to see is that these very large tech companies will continue to increase their AI efforts across a wide range of tech spending,” Yongyu Ma, chief investment officer at BMO Wealth Management, told CNBC. We need to continue to strengthen this.” “I don’t think you can take it back.”
Stock chart iconStock chart icon
Nasdaq Composite year-to-date
“If they don’t understand that for some reason, the market won’t take it very well when a few of the high-tech companies that are in the news make statements that kind of put the brakes on some of their investments.” he added. “So it’s going to have some impact for the market to actually see that these companies are continuing, if not accelerating their spending in this space.”
Traders are also keeping an eye on a number of key economic indicators this week, including the September jobs report due out on Friday. September personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index expected on Thursday. Preliminary gross domestic product (GDP) figures for the third quarter will be released on Wednesday.
