4:10pm: Dow Jones finishes trading day higher
US stocks finished Monday in positive territory ahead of a big week of economic announcements, including the Federal Reserve’s latest interest rate decision and Apple’s earnings.
The Dow Jones led the gains, closing up 1.6% or 511 points at 32,929 points.
The S&P 500 was up 1.2% or 49 points at 4,167 points and the Nasdaq had added 1.2% or 147 points at 12,789 points.
ON Semiconductor Corporation shares closed out the day 21.8% lower at about US$65 on disappointing fourth quarter guidance while First Quantum ended the day 28.2% lower at about US$14 amid uncertainty around the future of the Canadian miner’s flagship copper asset in Panama.
12:00pm: US stocks hold gains
US stocks continued to power ahead on Monday as investors looked for value amid recent heavy falls.
At midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 364.08 points, 1.1% at 32,781.67, the S&P 500 was up 32.39 points, 0.8% at 4,149.76 while the Nasdaq Composite was up 111.51 points, 0.9%, at 12,754.52.
Michael Hewson at CMC Markets said: "US markets have taken their cues from today’s better tone in European markets opening higher, rebounding from 5-month lows, as investors look to draw a line under two successive weekly declines."
McDonald's remains in demand after its results, up 2.3%, while Western Digital, the US chipmaker, jumped 6.7% after reporting plans to split in two by spinning its flash memory unit off from its hard drive business.
9:40am: US stocks rally, McDonald's and GM advance
US stocks recouped some of last week's heavy losses ahead of a busy week of earnings, the Fed's rate decision and non-farm payrolls.
Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 242.47 points, 0.8%, at 32,660.06, the S&P 500 was up 35.78 points, 0.9%, at 4,153.15 while the Nasdaq Composite was up 137.92 points, 1.1%, at 12,780.94.
McDonald's rose1.0% after reporting better-than-expected third quarter results while General Motors rose 1.4% after Bloomberg reported it reached a tentative agreement with the United Auto Workers to end a six-week-old strike with similar terms to the deal signed earlier by Ford, according to people familiar with the matter.
Chevron rallied 0.9% after falling heavily in the wake of third quarter results on Friday.
Bank of America upgraded to buy in what it termed "a tactical move in response to an unwarranted collapse in the shares."
7:00am: Futures indicate a bright start on Wall Street
US stock futures pointed upwards on Monday ahead of a busy week of earnings, the Federal Reserve’s rate call, plus a raft of data on the data, culminating in the jobs report on Friday.
In pre-market trading, futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were 0.5% higher, while those for the S&P 500 were up 0.6%, and contracts for the Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.7%.
The S&P 500 fell into correction territory last week, shedding 2.5% for the week to put it down by 10.6% from its 2023 high.
Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)’s Michael Wilson is forecasting more pain for investors before the year-end, reiterating a year-end target for the S&P 500 of 3,900.
He thinks earnings expectations are too high for the fourth quarter and 2024, even in an economy that’s performing well.
“Monetary and fiscal policy are unlikely to provide relief and could tighten further,” he suggested, plus while the Federal Reserve may be done hiking for now, it is a long way from easing.
In company news, US chipmaker Broadcom and cloud software company VMware have delayed the completion of their $69 billion merger, which had been scheduled to close today.
The companies said in a joint statement that they maintained their “expectation that Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware will close soon, but in any event prior to the expiration of their merger agreement”.
Earlier this month, the Financial Times reported that Chinese regulators were considering holding up the deal, announced in May 2022.
Elsewhere, fast-food chain McDonalds will report this quarter earnings.