As investors awaited further indications on when the Federal Reserve could start reducing interest rates, Wall Street was set for a muted opening on Monday. Meanwhile, Microsoft saw gains following the announcement that former OpenAI CEO Sam Altman would be joining the behemoth software company.
Before the bell, Microsoft’s stock increased by about 1% on CEO Satya Nadella’s announcement that Altman will be joining the business to head a new advanced AI research unit.
Alphabet fell 1.0% and Nvidia edged up 0.8%, while other megacap stocks were divided.
The three major U.S. market indexes have seen a remarkable comeback in November. On Friday, they reported increases for the third consecutive week, bolstering speculation that the Federal Reserve had finished hiking interest rates.
Merely 2% separates the benchmark S&P 500 from its highest point of the year, which was attained in July.
According to Ken Polcari, managing partner at Kace Capital Advisors, “(The rally) is well overdone because we had a very swift move on the idea that they (the Fed) are going to cut interest rates.”
The market will consolidate over the next weeks until the customary year-end seasonal Santa bounce occurs.”
According to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool, traders have almost fully priced in the possibility that the Fed will maintain interest rates in December and have begun pricing in rate reductions as early as March.
This week’s stocks market will be influenced by a variety of triggers, and the low trading volume leading up to Thanksgiving will also have an impact on market movements.
The “Magnificent Seven” group of megacap corporations will conclude its third-quarter earnings season on Tuesday when chip designer Nvidia releases its quarterly results.
On Tuesday, the Fed is anticipated to release the minutes from its November meeting, which will be examined for hints on the future path of interest rates in the US. The Black Friday sales will serve as a barometer for the status of American consumer expenditure.
E-mini Dow was down 17 points, or 0.05%, S&P 500 e-mini down 1 point, or 0.02%, and Nasdaq 100 e-mini up 5.75 points, or 0.04%, at 8:21 a.m. ET.