NEW YORK :Global stock indexes rose on Monday as investors awaited earnings reports this week from several of the biggest U.S. tech-related companies, while oil prices fell sharply after Israel’s retaliatory strike against Iran at the weekend bypassed oil and nuclear facilities.
The Japanese yen reached a three-month low against the dollar after an election in Japan thrust the country into political turmoil.
Against the yen, the dollar rose by as much as 1 per cent to a high of 153.88, the yen’s weakest level since late July. The dollar was last up 0.49 per cent at 153.05.
U.S. earnings season is in full swing, with a long list of names due to report this week including five of the biggest U.S. companies: Google parent Alphabet, Microsoft, Facebook owner Meta Platforms, Apple and Amazon.com.
This week also brings the U.S. jobs report for October on Friday, while investors are keeping a close eye on political news with the U.S. presidential election just over a week away.
Employers are expected to have added 123,000 jobs during October, while the unemployment rate is likely to stay steady at 4.1 per cent, according to economists polled by Reuters.,
The election for U.S. president is expected to be close. Vice President Kamala Harris, a Democrat, was leading Republican Donald Trump nationally by a marginal 46 per cent to 43 per cent, a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll showed. U.S. voters head to the polls Nov. 5.
Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yields hit a three-month high ahead of this week’s data and election. The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes was last up 4 basis points at 4.272 per cent, from 4.232 per cent late on Friday.
“It’s the calm before the storm,” said Subadra Rajappa, head of U.S. rates strategy at Societe Generale in New York. “A lot of investors are a little bit more cautious heading into the elections.”
Energy shares eased along with oil prices, with the S&P 500 energy sector down more than 1 per cent. U.S. crude fell 5.73 per cent to $67.67 a barrel and Brent fell to $71.81 per barrel, down 5.58 per cent on the day.
But the three major U.S. stock indexes were higher.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 284.43 points, or 0.68 per cent, to 42,399.36, the S&P 500 rose 23.94 points, or 0.41 per cent, to 5,832.06 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 99.81 points, or 0.54 per cent, to 18,617.83.
MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe rose 3.38 points, or 0.40 per cent, to 848.87. The STOXX 600 index rose 0.51 per cent.
In Japan, Tokyo’s Nikkei closed up 1.8 per cent, after initially dipping following the election result.
Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) lost its parliamentary majority.
The party, with junior coalition partner Komeito, won 215 lower-house seats in Sunday’s election, public broadcaster NHK reported, well short of the 233 needed for a majority.
In other currencies, the dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, fell 0.13 per cent to 104.24, and the euro was up 0.21 per cent at $1.0816.
(Additional reporting by Amanda Cooper in London and Karen Brettell in New York; Editing by Christopher Cushing, Sonali Paul, Gareth Jones and Marguerita Choy)
