The stock market roars as Dow Jones gains 450 points, while Warren Buffett’s electric vehicle venture soars to record profits, leaving Tesla investors in a state of shock.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average continued to climb on Monday morning, gaining nearly 500 points or 1.5% in early afternoon trades. This surge in the stock market came as the Federal Reserve prepared for a two-day meeting set to start on Tuesday. It is widely expected that Fed Chair Jerome Powell and the rest of the governing body will keep interest rates unchanged. The S&P 500 also experienced gains, rising 1.1%, while the Nasdaq saw a 1% increase. Tech giants like Meta Platforms, Google parent Alphabet, and Microsoft showed signs of a rally attempt after the Nasdaq entered a correction phase last week. However, the tech-heavy index faced some resistance at the 200-day line on Monday. The small-cap Russell 2000 saw minimal gains of just 0.1%, while the Innovator IBD 50 ETF performed better with a 0.3% increase.
In other news, General Motors reached a tentative labor deal with the United Auto Workers union, making it the last of the automakers to reach an agreement. Over the weekend, UAW strikers approved a labor deal with Ford after the automaker agreed to invest $8.1 billion in new plants and provide significant pay raises for full-time workers. GM shares saw a slight decrease, while Ford fell 1.5%.
Looking ahead, October’s payroll growth is expected to come in at 183,000, which is significantly lower than September’s 336,000 jobs gained. Several notable companies, including McDonald’s, Disney, Apple, Caterpillar, and Amgen, are due to report earnings this week. Apple is also scheduled to hold its October event, where the release of a new iMac with the M3 processor chip is anticipated.
Outside of the Dow Jones, On Semiconductor reported flat third-quarter sales compared to the previous year, causing its stock to dive more than 15%. Warren Buffett-backed BYD reported record net profit and saw margins reach a three-year high, while Tesla experienced a 5% decrease. Lattice Semiconductor, Rambus, and Wolfspeed are set to report earnings after the market close, with Advanced Micro Devices also due to release its earnings on Tuesday. Qualcomm’s stock rose as it approached the 50-day line ahead of its earnings report on Wednesday. Western Digital saw a decrease in cloud revenue and overall sales, leading the company to announce plans to separate its flash memory and hard-disk drive businesses. Novo Nordisk is rebounding off the 50-day line, and Eli Lilly is at the 50-day line ahead of their respective earnings reports this week. Cardinal Health is forming a cup with handle pattern with a buy point of 94.37.
For more news on the stock market today, follow VRamakrishnan on Twitter.
