4:22pm: Nasdaq closes higher for seventh-straight day
The Dow closed Monday up 35 points, 0.1%, at 34,096, the Nasdaq Composite gained 41 points 0.3%, to 13,519 and the S&P 500 improved 8 points, 0.2%, to 4,366. The small-cap Russell 2000 declined 23 points, 1.3%, to 1,738.
The benchmarks rose, fell and rose again to eke out a winning session. Monday marked the seventh-straight winning day for the Nasdaq Composite (the longest streak since January) and the fifth-straight for the Dow and S&P 500.
“What we’re seeing is the market pausing to digest that very strong rally last week,” said Adam Sarhan, CEO of 50 Park Investments. “You’re in a situation where the market’s just pausing to consolidate the recent move and wait for the next bullish catalyst to come out, and that could likely be one of the Fed heads, Powell or earnings.”
12:00pm: US stocks hold firm despite rise in bond yields
US stocks continued to prosper on Monday despite a renewed rise in bond yields.
At midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 46.40 points, 0.1%, at 34,107.72, the S&P 500 was up 6.37 points, 0.2%, at 4,364.71 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 37.77 points, 0.3%, at 13,516.06.
Michael Hewson at CMC Markets noted: "After the strong gains of last week US markets have opened modestly higher even though we’ve seen a modest rebound in yields after the dump we saw at the end of last week."
Citigroup is weighing job cuts of at least 10% across several of its major businesses, CNBC reported Monday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Executive positions could see cuts exceeding 10% as CEO Jane Fraser looks to eliminate regional manager and co-head positions.
The talks and overhaul, known internally as “Project Bora Bora” are in early stages, CNBC reported.
9:40am: Wall Street makes steady progress
US stocks made steady progress on Monday as investors continue to bet on a soft economic landing and hope interest rates have peaked.
Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 86.54 points, 0.3%, at 34,147.86, the S&P 500 was up 7.48 points, 0.2%, at 4,365.82 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 36.53 points, 0.3%, at 13,514.81.
Craig Erlam at Oanda said: “Investors got everything they wanted from the Federal Reserve and the jobs report.”
“Chair Jerome Powell and his colleagues adopted a slightly less hawkish tone for the meeting while maintaining its extremely cautious position on inflation and interest rates.”
Shares in WeWork were halted for trading early on Monday, as Wall Street anticipated an imminent bankruptcy filing of the flexible working space company once valued at $47 billion.
The company, founded by Adam Neumann and backed with billions of capital from SoftBank, had previously announced it would not make an interest payment due to bondholders as it negotiated a comprehensive restructuring of $13 billion in lease obligations.
Elsewhere, shares in Paramount dipped 4.0% as Bank of America downgraded to underperform from buy and slashing its price target to $9 from $32.
7:00am: US markets set for modest gains
US stocks are expected to make steady progress on Monday as investors mull the implications of last week’s interest rate decision and weaker-than-expected non-farm payrolls.
In pre-market trading, futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 0.1%, while those for the S&P 500 were 0.2% higher, and contracts for the Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.2%.
Joshua Mahony at Scope Markets said: “ US markets look set for tentative gains at the open, with all eyes on big tech after a dramatic surge for the Nasdaq last week.”
“With markets now pricing in a lower chance of additional tightening from the Fed, we have seen both big tech (Nasdaq) and small caps (Russell 2000) outperform.”
“This week marks a significant cooling off period as the influence of earnings and economic data releases start to fade.”
“With that in mind, the price action seen this week should provide a good temperature check for markets having seen central banks and the vast majority of Q3 earnings reported.”
Tesla rose after it said it will produce a new model that will cost €25,000 at its factory near Berlin, according to Reuters.
Chief Executive Elon Musk announced the plan to staff last week when he visited the Tesla factory in Gruenheide, Reuters said Monday, citing an unnamed source.