US stocks surged on Monday amid solid first-quarter earnings reports and renewed hopes of interest rate cuts.
Rate cut wagers grew following Friday’s lighter-than-expected April jobs report.
The futures market is now pricing in at least two interest rate cuts by the end of the year.
US stocks surged on Monday, extending gains from Friday and marking the best three-day rally of the year as investors cheered solid first-quarter earnings report and hopes for interest rate cuts were renewed.
Of the 80% of S&P 500 companies that have so far reported results, 81% are beating profit estimates by a median of 7%. Meanwhile, 61% of companies have beaten revenue estimates by a median of 4%, according to data from Fundstrat.
Importantly, most mega-cap tech companies that have held up the stock market in recent years reported solid earnings growth and reiterated their outlooks for higher sales and profits. The major company left to report results is Nvidia, which is scheduled to deliver earnings on May 22.
Meanwhile, the jolt of hope for interest rate cuts followed the Friday release of the April jobs report, which was weaker-than-expected based on economists forecasts. The US economy added 175,000 jobs last month, compared to estimates for nearly 250,000 jobs.
The futures market sees two 25-basis point interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve by the end of the year, which is an increase from the recent pricing of just one interest rate cut a week ago.
Investors will look for further clues about interest rate cuts from several Federal Reserve members this week, with nine scheduled to speak between throughout the week.
Fed President Tom Barkin said on Monday that the economy has to slow down further before interest rate cuts can happen, but markets largely didn’t appear to take that as an overly hawkish view.
Here’s where US indexes stood at the 4:00 p.m. closing bell on Monday:
Here’s what else happened today:
In commodities, bonds, and crypto:
West Texas Intermediate crude oil jumped 0.60% to $78.58 a barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose 0.51% to $83.38 a barrel.
Gold edged higher by 1.07% to $2,333.40 per ounce.
The 10-year Treasury yield fell 2 basis points to 4.49%.
Bitcoin edged lower by 1.46% to $63,099.
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