US stocks attempted to rebound on Monday from their worst week of the year as investors braced for a flood of corporate earnings.
The S&P 500 (^GSPC) gained 0.2% after closing below the 5,000 level on Friday for the first time since February amid six straight days of losses. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) added 0.3%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) pared earlier morning gains to hug the flatline.
After its recent battering, the market rally has sunk to its most fragile point in months, and this week will be critical to determining whether the malaise continues.
Tech stocks are looking to recover after lackluster earnings from Netflix (NFLX) dragged on a broader market already grappling with geopolitical tensions. Fading chances of an interest rate cut have fueled skepticism that megacaps can continue to shoulder the task of driving gains.
Hopes are now resting on Big Tech earnings later in the week to reassure and reignite the market. On deck are quarterly reports from Meta (META), Microsoft (MSFT) and Alphabet (GOOG).
The focus Monday is on Tesla (TSLA) as the EV maker cut prices in the US, China, and several other countries. Tesla will report quarterly results on Tuesday after the market close. The Elon Musk-led company has already unsettled some investors with its robotaxi push and decision to have shareholders vote again on Musk’s rejected pay package. Shares fell more than 4% on Monday morning.
Meanwhile, the debate over the Federal Reserve’s stance on rate cuts continued to rumble after Chair Jerome Powell and fellow policymakers turned more hawkish last week in the face of persistent inflation. Given that, minds are already turning toward Friday’s release of the PCE index — the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge — as critical to assessing whether rates will stay higher for longer.
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