Published by Jessica Weisman-Pitts
Posted on October 28, 2024
By Caroline Valetkevitch
NEW YORK (Reuters) –Global stock indexes rose on Monday as investors awaited earnings reports this week from several of the biggest U.S. tech-related companies, while oil prices fell sharply after Israel’s retaliatory strike against Iran at the weekend bypassed oil and nuclear facilities.
The Japanese yen reached a three-month low against the dollar after an election in Japan thrust the country into political turmoil.
Against the yen, the dollar rose by as much as 1% to a high of 153.88, the yen’s weakest level since late July. The dollar was last up 0.49% at 153.05.
U.S. earnings season is in full swing, with a long list of names due to report this week including five of the biggest U.S. companies: Google parent Alphabet, Microsoft, Facebook owner Meta Platforms, Apple and Amazon.com.
This week also brings the U.S. jobs report for October on Friday, while investors are keeping a close eye on political news with the U.S. presidential election just over a week away.
Employers are expected to have added 123,000 jobs during October, while the unemployment rate is likely to stay steady at 4.1%, according to economists polled by Reuters.,
The election for U.S. president is expected to be close. Vice President Kamala Harris, a Democrat, was leading Republican Donald Trump nationally by a marginal 46% to 43%, a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll showed. U.S. voters head to the polls Nov. 5.
Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yields hit a three-month high ahead of this week’s data and election. The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes was last up 4 basis points at 4.272%, from 4.232% late on Friday.
It’s the calm before the storm,” said Subadra Rajappa, head of U.S. rates strategy at Societe Generale in New York. “A lot of investors are a little bit more cautious heading into the elections.”
Energy shares eased along with oil prices, with the S&P 500 energy sector down more than 1%. U.S. crude fell 5.73% to $67.67 a barrel and Brent fell to $71.81 per barrel, down 5.58% on the day.
But the three major U.S. stock indexes were higher.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 284.43 points, or 0.68%, to 42,399.36, the S&P 500 rose 23.94 points, or 0.41%, to 5,832.06 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 99.81 points, or 0.54%, to 18,617.83.
MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe rose 3.38 points, or 0.40%, to 848.87. The STOXX 600 index rose 0.51%.
In Japan, Tokyo’s Nikkei closed up 1.8%, after initially dipping following the election result.
Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) lost its parliamentary majority.
The party, with junior coalition partner Komeito, won 215 lower-house seats in Sunday’s election, public broadcaster NHK reported, well short of the 233 needed for a majority.
In other currencies, the dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, fell 0.13% to 104.24, and the euro was up 0.21% at $1.0816.
(Additional reporting by Amanda Cooper in London and Karen Brettell in New York; Editing by Christopher Cushing, Sonali Paul, Gareth Jones and Marguerita Choy)
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