Wall Street Rises Ahead Of Big Tech Earnings, Fed Meeting; Tesla Rebounds, Oil Prices Drop To 7-Week Lows: What's Driving Markets Monday?

Wall Street opened higher at the start of a data-heavy week, with traders adopting an optimistic tone ahead of crucial earnings reports and economic events.

The S&P 500 rose 0.4% by midday trading in New York, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 climbed 0.8%. The blue-chip index inched 0.1% up, and small caps slipped 0.8%.

Four out of the six largest U.S. corporations – including Microsoft Corp., Apple Inc. AAPL, Meta Platforms Inc. META and Amazon Inc. AMZN – are set to report their latest quarterly earnings between Tuesday and Thursday.

Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve will hold its two-day Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, concluding Wednesday with the rate statement and Fed Chair Jerome Powell‘s press conference.

The Fed is widely expected to keep interest rates steady, but traders will closely watch for any signals of a potential rate cut in September. Market-implied odds currently fully factor in a September rate cut, as shown by CME Group’s FedWatch tool.

Additionally, crucial labor market statistics will be released this week, including the June Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTs) on Tuesday, July private payroll numbers from Automatic Data Processing Inc. on Wednesday, and the highly anticipated official employment report for July on Friday.

Treasury yields were mostly flat for shorter-dated maturities, while yields for both the 10-year and 30-year tenors fell by 2 basis points on Monday. The iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF TLT rose 0.4%.

In commodities markets, oil fell 1.1%, with West Texas Intermediate (WTI) light crude dropping below $76, hitting a fresh 7-week low as bearish demand developments in China outweighed supply concerns from rising Middle East tensions. U.S. natural gas prices also fell 1.4%.

Gold inched 0.5% lower, while copper and silver declined 0.7% and 1.4%, respectively. Bitcoin BTC/USD held steady at around $68,000, failing to rally significantly despite bullish headlines over the weekend.

Monday’s Performance In Major US Indices, ETFs

Major Indices	Price	1-day %chg
Nasdaq 100	19,173.24	0.8%
S&P 500	5,482.99	0.4%
Dow Jones	40,620.03	0.1%
Russell 2000	2,242.45	-0.8%

According to Benzinga Pro data:

• The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY was 0.4% higher to $546.49.
• The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average DIA held steady at $406.12.
• The tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust (ARCA: QQQ) rose 0.8% to $466.90.
• The iShares Russell 2000 ETF IWM fell 0.8% to 222.43.
• Sector-wise, the Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund XLY outperformed, up by 1.7%, while the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund XLE lagged, down 1.2%.

Monday’s Stock Movers

• Tesla Inc. TSLA rallied 5% after a bullish note from Morgan Stanley putting the EV-maker as the analyst ‘top pick’ in the U.S. automotive industry.
• Booking Holdings Inc. BKNG rose 2.6% after Fubon issued a ‘New Buy’ rating with price target at $4,533.
• Charles Schwab Corp. SCHW fell 1.6% after Piper Sandler cut the company’s rating to Neutral.

Stocks moving on earnings were:

• McDonalds Corp. MCD soared 4.3%, despite reporting disappointing profits.
• ON Semiconductor Corp. ON skyrocketed 13.5%, eyeing the best one-day gain since November 2022, amid stronger-than-expected quarterly results.
• Revvity Inc. RVTY climbed 6.4%.
• CNA Financial Corp. CNA rose 3.7%.
• Affiliated Managers Group Inc. AMG rose 3.9%.
• Alliance Resource Partners L.P. ARLP tumbled 6%.

Large-cap stocks reporting earnings after the close include:

• Hologic Inc. HOLX.
• Woodward Inc. WWD.
• F5 Inc. FFIV.
• Chesapeake Energy Corp. CHK.
• Amkor Technology Inc. AMKR.
• Crane Company CR.

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Image created using artificial intelligence via Midjourney.