US stocks rise, boosted by strong gains from Tesla; Fed meeting in focus.
U.S. stocks rose Monday, booted by strong gains from electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla ahead of the latest Federal Reserve policy-setting meeting.
At 09:35 ET (13:35 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 60 points or 0.2%, the S&P 500 rose 15 points or 0.3%, and the NASDAQ Composite rose 68 points or 0.4%.
Blowout first-quarter earnings from tech giants Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) sparked a rally across technology stocks last week, and this positive tone has continued into the new week.
Earnings season continues
The quarterly earnings season has continued Monday, although more significant earnings are expected in the coming days.
Domino’s Pizza (NYSE: DPZ) stock rose 7% after the pizza chain beat first-quarter sales estimates as customers made use of the company’s loyalty programs.
SoFi Technologies (NASDAQ: SOFI) stock fell over 8% after the personal finance company issued a disappointing second-quarter forecast, even after posting better-than-expected revenue and income last quarter, fueled largely by its financial services and technology platform segments.
Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), Coca-Cola (NYSE: KOF), Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD) and Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) will report earnings on Tuesday.
Additionally, Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) stock soared 11% after the Wall Street Journal reported that the EV giant has received tentative approval from Beijing to launch its driver assistance software in China, leveraging mapping and navigation technology from Chinese tech giant Baidu (NASDAQ: BIDU).
Fed meeting in focus as rate cut bets wane
Still, activity is likely to be limited in the first half of this week ahead of this week’s policy-setting meeting by the Federal Reserve.
The Fed is widely expected to keep rates on hold in May, and bets are also growing that the Fed will only begin cutting rates by September or the fourth quarter, amid sticky inflation and some resilience in U.S. consumer spending.
Friday’s PCE price index, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, read hotter than expected for March, drumming up fears that the Fed had little confidence to begin enacting interest rate cuts and that the central bank was likely to keep rates higher for longer.
Crude slips on Middle East peace hopes
Oil prices fell Monday as peace talks between Israel and Hamas eased concerns of a wider conflict in the Middle East, as well as the potential for a disruption to supplies from the vital region.
By 09:35 ET, the U.S. crude futures traded 0.6% lower at $83.33 a barrel, while the Brent contract dropped 0.4% to $87.82 a barrel.
A Hamas delegation will visit Cairo on Monday for talks aimed at securing a ceasefire, a Hamas official told Reuters on Sunday, with the group expected to respond to Israel’s latest Gaza-phased truce proposal delivered on Saturday.