US stocks stepped higher on Monday as Wall Street kicked off a packed week full of high-profile earnings and a delayed release of key inflation data.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rose roughly 0.7%, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) gained 0.9%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) led the way higher, rising over 1%.
Markets are setting aside a laundry list of worries to focus instead on earnings season, which shifts into high gear this week. Hopes are high, with reports from Tesla (TSLA), Intel (INTC), Netflix (NFLX), and Coca-Cola (KO) leading the highlights in a busy roster.
On Monday, eyes will be on Zions Bancorp’s (ZION) third quarter results due after the bell. The regional lender’s disclosure of bad loans linked to fraud last week spooked investors with concerns about US credit quality.
A lull on the trade war front also provided solace. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said relations with Beijing have “de-escalated” and said US-China talks are set to resume this week in Malaysia.
On Sunday, President Trump listed the top issues for the US — rare earths, fentanyl, and soybeans — in a sign the White House is continuing to soften its stance. That raised optimism that Trump’s promised 100% additional tariff on Chinese imports set for Nov. 1 may not come to pass.
Meanwhile, the US government shutdown has entered its third week, with Democrats and Republicans still at odds over federal healthcare subsidies. Economists warn that a prolonged standoff could dent near-term GDP growth, though most see any slowdown as likely temporary.
The federal stoppage has slammed the brakes on inflation and jobs data key to the Federal Reserve’s decision making. But the Bureau of Labor Statistics is set to release September’s Consumer Price Index on Friday, delayed from last week. The data could prove pivotal to the Fed’s rate path, as policymakers enter a quiet period ahead of their two-day meeting next week.
Wall Street was also assessing the fallout from a major Amazon (AMZN) AWS outage Monday morning, the ripple effect of which took platforms such as Robinhood (HOOD) offline. The cloud giant underpins services for a swathe of top companies, and users reported disruption at websites ranging from United Airlines (UAL) to Reddit (RDDT). AWS operations are slowely returning to normal, the Amazon unit said.
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