Wall St eyes higher open as investors await Fed rate verdict, more earnings

WALL Street was poised for a higher open on Monday ahead of a busy week of earnings and interest rate decisions from major central banks including the Federal Reserve, while investors shrugged off concerns about the Middle East conflict.

Israeli troops and tanks attacked Gaza’s main northern city from the east and west on Monday, three days after it began ground operations in the Palestinian enclave.

However, the clashes had little impact on U.S. equity markets, with megacap names such as Nvidia, Amazon.com and Tesla up between 0.9% and 1.1% in premarket trading.

“On Friday going into this ground offensive, investors were really risk averse. So now because the offensive is not as big as everyone expected, on the margin this is good news for markets,” said Anthi Tsouvali, multi-asset strategist at State Street Global Markets.

Geopolitical concerns as well as a surge in Treasury yields have weighed on U.S. equities this month, dragging the benchmark S&P 500 down over 10% from its intraday high in July.

On Monday, the yield on the ten-year note was at 4.90% after having breached the 5% level earlier this month.

Adding to bond market worries, the U.S. Treasury is likely to boost the size of auctions for bills, notes, and bonds in the fourth quarter when it announces its financing plans this week to fund a worsening budget deficit. A subsequent rise in yields may further pressure stocks.

The Fed is widely expected to keep interest rates unchanged at the end of its policy meeting on Nov. 1, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool.

However, certain parts of the economy have proved to be resilient, spurring concerns that the central bank could signal willingness to hold rates at their current level for longer than previously anticipated.

The October non-farm payrolls report due on Friday will be amongst the latest tests of the resilience of the world’s largest economy.

The Bank of England and the Bank of Japan would also be announcing their verdict on rates later in the week.

On the earnings front, McDonald’s rose 2.7% after beating estimates for third-quarter profit and sales.

Apple, Pfizer and Eli Lilly would be some of the major Wall Street companies reporting later in the week.

Of the 245 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings so far, 77.6% have beaten earnings estimates, as per the latest LSEG data.

At 8:27 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 180 points, or 0.55%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 23.75 points, or 0.57%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 99 points, or 0.69%.

Shares of Western Digital Corp jumped 12% as the memory chipmaker disclosed plans to separate itself into two independent public companies, while Revvity Inc shed 9.9% on cutting its full-year forecast.

SoFi Technologies gained 8.4% after the company’s loss narrowed in the third quarter. – Reuters