As we head to the start of a new day on Wall Street, the futures are indicating a negative open for the major U.S. indexes. In overnight trading, markets in Asia were up. Meanwhile, the major European indexes are mixed. Elsewhere, oil prices are hovering around the unchanged mark, with West Texas Intermediate at about $86.65 a barrel.
Stocks began the week on an up note, suggesting that traders may be a bit more confident that the war between Israel and Hamas will not spill over to include other countries, particularly oil producing nations such as Iran. Investor enthusiasm may also have been buoyed by the recent increases in yields for longer-term U.S. Treasuries, which raises the possibility that the Federal Reserve may not have to boost its overnight lending rate again this year. The higher yields for the longer bonds, which will also tend to keep home mortgage lending rates at high levels, may tend to slow the economy, easing the pressure on the central bank to slow it with overnight interest rates.
Meanwhile, earnings season has shifted into higher gear, with more than 50 S&P 500 companies set to report third-quarter results this week. Among the bigger names on the docket are Tesla (TSLA) and Morgan Stanley (MS) on Wednesday, AT&T (T) on Thursday, followed by American Express (AXP) and Schlumberger (SLB) on Friday.
The week also includes some key economic news. This morning, the Census Bureau reported that retail sales rose 0.7% in September. Analysts were looking for an increase of 0.3%, down from 0.6% in August. For the 12-month period, total sales were up 3.1%, compared to 0.8% through August (revised up from 0.6%).
Tomorrow, we’ll get updates on the health of the housing sector from the Census Bureau. The consensus is calling for a slight increase in housing starts for September, to an annualized rate of 1.38 million units, up from 1.283 million the month before. Meanwhile, building permits (a more forward-looking indicator) are expected to edge lower, to 1.455 million, down from the 1.541 million recorded in August. Then, on Thursday, the National Association of Realtors is set to announce its tallies for existing home sales. Expectations are calling for a slight dip in September, to 3.89 million units, versus 4.04 million the month before.
Summing up Monday’s performance for the major indexes, the Dow Jones Industrials gained 314 points or 0.9%, the S&P 500 advanced 45 points (+1.1%) , and the tech-heavy NASDAQ was up 160 points (1.2%). – Mario Ferro
At the time of this article’s writing, the author did not have positions in any of the companies mentioned.
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