Wall Street’s main indexes edged higher in early trade on Monday as investors geared up for commentary by a slew of policymakers later in the week which is likely to provide clarity on whether the Federal Reserve could cut rates next year.
Shares of Tesla were a big boost, up 1.1% after a source told Reuters the electric automaker plans to build a 25,000-euro ($26,838) car at its factory near Berlin. Seven of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors climbed, with information technology and consumer discretionary leading gains.
U.S. equities posted their best weekly performance in about a year on Friday, boosted by tumbling Treasury yields as a weaker-than-expected monthly payrolls report spurred hopes that the Fed could start cutting rates next year.
Traders’ bets that the Fed will hold interest rates steady in December stand at 90%, while pricing in an about 80% chance the first policy easing would come as soon as June, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool.
Such expectations will be put to the test this week as market participants gauge the views of a raft of Fed policymakers, including Chair Jerome Powell, due to speak in the coming days.
Other speakers include voting members such as Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook, New York Fed President John Williams and Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan.
The yield on the benchmark ten-year Treasury note, which slid to five-week lows on Friday, edged up to 4.63% on Monday.
“The one thing that needs to happen for the rally to continue to gain momentum is for the 10-year (yields) to stabilize,” said Jamie Cox, managing partner at Harris Financial Group.
“Rates are going to stabilize lower because it’s pretty clear that the Fed has no intentions of raising rates in December and then we’re getting closer to the rate cut dot plot (in) 2024.”
The economic-data calendar for this week is light, with weekly jobless claims numbers due on Thursday and University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment report on Friday.
Walt Disney, Instacart and Biogen are among major companies reporting earnings this week.
A total of 403 companies in the S&P 500 have reported profits to date in the third quarter, with 81.6% surpassing analyst estimates, per LSEG data.
At 9:47 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 21.60 points, or 0.06%, at 34,082.92, the S&P 500 was up 5.99 points, or 0.14%, at 4,364.33, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 52.21 points, or 0.39%, at 13,530.50.
Dish Network dropped 19.9% after the pay-TV provider missed third-quarter revenue estimates and announced CEO Erik Carlson would step down from the role.
Bumble slipped 7.6% as the dating app operator said founder Whitney Wolfe Herd will step down as its chief executive.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 2.01-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and for a 1.24-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded eight new 52-week highs and no new low, while the Nasdaq recorded 17 new highs and 32 new lows.
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