US stocks gained on Monday, extending their jump from last week as investors feel optimistic about another wave of first-quarter earnings reports.
Amazon and Apple will headline this week’s earnings results, and an additional 170 S&P 500 companies are expected to report their results throughout the week.
So far, about half of S&P 500 companies have reported earnings results. Of those companies, 80% are beating profit estimates by a median of 7%, while 59% are beating revenue estimates by a median of 3%, according to data from Fundstrat.
Apart from earnings, investors will be paying close attention to the Federal Reserve’s FOMC meeting on Wednesday. While the Fed is expected to keep interest rates unchanged, investors will be looking for clues from Fed Chairman Jerome Powell on the outlook of the economy and what the Fed might do in the coming months.
Forecasters have greatly reduced expectations for rate cuts this year. On Monday, analysts at Macquarie predicted the next move from the central bank could be a hike, a stark about-face after the bank previously projected 225 basis points worth of rate cuts in 2024.
Finally, investors will keep their eye on the April jobs report, which is set to be released on Friday. Economists expect 250,000 jobs to have been added to the economy in April, down from 303,000 jobs added in March.
Here’s where US indexes stood at the 4:00 p.m. closing bell on Monday:
Here’s what else happened today:
In commodities, bonds, and crypto:
West Texas Intermediate crude oil dropped 1.31% to $82.75 a barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, fell 1.09% to $88.52 a barrel. Gold edged lower by 0.09% to $2,345.20 per ounce. The 10-year Treasury yield fell 4 basis points to 4.62%. Bitcoin edged lower by 0.41% to $62,855.
