Major US indexes close higher as earnings season winds down

Stocks eked out narrow gains Monday to build on last week’s strong rally, with the Nasdaq Composite notching its longest positive streak since January.

The Nasdaq jumped 0.3 per cent to finish at 13,518.78, while the S&P 500 edged up 0.18 per cent to end at 4,365.98. The Dow Jones Industrial Average inched up 34.54 points, or 0.1 per cent, to settle at 34,095.86.

Nvidia added 1.7 per cent, boosted by optimism from Bank of America ahead of its earnings report. Bumble shares slipped 4.4 per cent after the dating app announced its CEO will step down in January. Shares of SolarEdge Technologies tumbled 5.1 per cent on the back of a downgrade from Wells Fargo.

Earnings season is winding down, with more than 400 S&P companies having already reported quarterly financial results. Investors this week await updates from Walt Disney, Wynn and MGM Resorts and Occidental Petroleum.

Yields also moved higher, reversing last week’s trend, with the 10-year Treasury yield last up 9 basis points at about 4.653 per cent.

Traders will be watching Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell this week, who is scheduled to speak twice in the coming days. Last week, the central bank kept rates unchanged for a second straight meeting as bond yields tumbled. Investors are hoping the Fed’s rate-hiking campaign may be nearing an end.

In crypto-related news, altcoins, including Litecoin and Ripple's XRP, saw significant price increases on Monday, driven by renewed confidence and interest in the cryptocurrency market, with tokens tied to Polygon and Cardano also advancing. Meanwhile, Bitcoin and Ether remained relatively stable after their weekend spikes, following a historical pattern of Bitcoin leading rallies in the cryptocurrency market.

Turning to US sectors, Tech and Health are the best performers, whilst Real Estate is the worst.

Shifting our attention to the Australian landscape, all eyes are on the Reserve Bank's policy statement scheduled for 2.30 pm. It is anticipated that policymakers will favour a 0.25 percentage point hike in the cash rate target, bringing it to 4.35 percent.

Futures

The SPI futures are pointing to a 0.2 per cent fall.

Currency

One Australian dollar at 8:50 AM was buying 64.89 US cents.

Figures around the globe

European markets closed mixed. London’s FTSE closed flat, Frankfurt fell 0.35 per cent, and Paris closed 0.48 per cent lower.

Turning to Asian markets, Tokyo’s Nikkei gained 2.37 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 1.71 per cent while China’s Shanghai Composite closed 0.91 per cent higher.

The Australian share market closed 0.27 per cent higher at 6,997.

Ex-dividends

CSR (ASX:CSR) is paying 15 cents fully franked
InvoCare (ASX:IVC) is paying 60 cents fully franked

Dividends payable

Veris Ltd (ASX:VRS)
New Hope Corp Ltd (ASX:NHC)

Sources: Bloomberg, FactSet, IRESS, TradingView, UBS, Bourse Data, Trading Economics, CoinMarketCap.

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