US stocks rise as investors expect big turn of events this week

By T.N. Ashok
New York, Oct 30 (IANS) Most US stocks are on the ascendancy expecting this week major developments after taking a beating from a sell off spree. Stocks rose on the back of Federal Reserve’s policy decision on interest rates and higher earnings from Apple stock on the calendar.

US stocks rose on the Monday bell after a bruising sell-off last week as investors looked ahead to a big week of events, with the Federal Reserve's latest policy decision and earnings from Apple on the calendar, US media reports said.

Investors expect the Federal Reserve Chirman Jerome Powell to hold steady the interest rate hike after a series of rate increases in prior months to contain inflation at 2 per cent. 

The benchmark S&P 500 climbed 0.7 per cent, after officially entering correction territory on Friday, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped roughly 0.8 per cent, or more than 250 points, after shedding more than 350 points at its last close, reports said .

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was also up around 0.8 per cent amid the downbeat last week driven by mixed bag for Big Tech earnings, reports said. Investors eyes are now focused on the US central bank and Apple, the biggest company on the S&P 500, to lift their morale and spirits after a 52 week hammering of stock prices by rising yields on the US Treasury bonds, especially on the 10 year paper, which has receded since last week.

Stock brokers were also monitoring the US jobs report for October and the Labour Department’s latest update, expected Friday this week, reports said. A jump in the Fed's preferred inflation metric has raised expectations that policymakers will stick to their "higher for longer" stance and hold interest rates steady in their decision on Wednesday, analysts said.

Apple is set to release its quarterly results on Thursday after the market close as investors wait to see if there is any impact from China's moves to constrain use of iPhones as a retaliation to US government’s decision to restrict exports of semi-conductors chips to China. President Joe Biden issued a restrictive order on exports to China fearing the chips might be diverted for use of AI in military applications. 

Nvidia, the biggest chips exporter to the world, said the impact was marginal on their business as sales volumes across the world was enormous.

Tech companies such as Alphabet (Google), Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft, Tesla, Amazon, and others are borrowing and investing in billions in AI technologies with high expectations that it would change the cyberspace as internet did years ago. Though investments are on debt monies, stocks of these tech companies are soaring on the Nasdaq.  

Investors are also seeing what fast foods giant McDonald's earnings would be Monday based on consumer choices as menu prices attract consumers and boost sales growth despite higher borrowing costs this quarter, analysts said.

Oil prices, which were breaching the $100 dollar mark in some markets, started sliding on Israel's cautious moves on breaking into Gaza. 

Fears that the conflict will escalate throughout the Middle East , which was driving prices high, eased. This has encouraged investors to dive back into markets. West Texas Intermediate futures lost 1.8 per cent to reach $84.01 a barrel, while Brent futures shed 1.5 per cent to trade around $87.86 a barrel.