Wall Street signaled a rise early Monday after a quiet week for economic data, with corporate earnings reporting in full swing once again.
Futures for the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average were both up 0.4% before the bell.
Meat processor Tyson Foods rose 2.6% in the pre-market session, handily beating analysts’ profit estimates even though sales were slightly lower than expected.
Spirit Airlines stock fell 3.5% before the bell after the low-cost airline missed Wall Street’s revenue and profit targets for the quarter. The company hasn’t made a full-year profit since 2019 and is in cost-cutting mode. postpone airplane orders and pilot furloughs.
GameStop rallied more than 7% in early trading Monday after the so-called “meme stock” rose more than 45% to close last week.
Later this week, Walt Disney, Airbnb, Anheuser-Busch and Uber will release their latest sales and profit reports.
Elsewhere, in European markets, Germany’s DAX rose 1.1% as of midday, while Paris’ CAC40 index rose 0.9%. London markets were closed for the public holiday.
In Asian trading, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index closed 0.4% higher at 18,548.77, while the Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.0% as mainland Chinese markets reopened after a week-long holiday. It rose 2% to 3,140.72. A private sector survey on Monday showed that the pace of growth in the country’s services sector slowed in April due to rising costs, although new orders rose and business confidence improved.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.7% to 7,682.40. Taiwan’s Tyex rose 1%.
Markets in Tokyo and South Korea were closed for public holidays.
Benchmark U.S. crude oil rose 62 cents to $78.73 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange early Monday morning. Brent crude, the international standard crude, rose 52 cents to $84.48 a barrel.
The Japanese yen rose slightly after its value fluctuated from a low of 160.25 to 151.86 to the dollar late last week amid allegations of government intervention. The dollar fell from 152.90 yen early on Monday and was bought to 153.52 yen.
The euro rose to $1.0789 from $1.0763.
On Friday, the S&P 500 rose 1.3% to 5,127.79, its highest level since late February, thanks to gains supported by weaker-than-expected U.S. jobs data.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.2% to $38,675.68. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 2% to close at 16,156.33, reflecting a strong rise in technology sector stocks, which accounted for most of the gains.
Employers in the country added 175,000 jobs last month, a sharp drop from March and well below the 233,000 gain that economists had expected. On the other hand, average hourly wages, a major factor in inflation, grew less than expected.
A modest increase in payrolls last month suggests the Federal Reserve’s aggressive streak of rate hikes may finally be starting to take a toll on the world’s largest economy. This will help reassure the Fed that inflation will ease further, potentially moving the central bank closer to cutting rates.
Optimism about the possibility of lower interest rates fueled gains on Friday.
