The U.S. stock market’s record-setting rally could face its scariest stretch of 2024 in the week ahead, with a dizzying array of risks on the docket.
A lot will be riding on earnings reports from big technology companies, volatility in U.S. debt markets, Friday’s monthly jobs data for October and the home stretch of a contentious presidential election.
‘Being divorced, I want to look out for her’: I gave my daughter $100K for a house. She’s buying a new home with her husband. What happens to my gift?
There’s a ‘generational opportunity’ for investors in this sector, says JPMorgan
‘I worry I’ll be forced to sell the house’: My parents put their house in my name. Was this a terrible mistake?
Wall Street is going all-in on election betting markets. What you need to know.
‘It’s so unfair!’ I’m miserable in my job. I’m 58 and have $1 million in a 401(k) and Roth IRA. Can I afford to quit?
“It’s a tossup that’s definitely bothering the rates market,” said Dec Mullarkey, head of investment strategy and asset allocation at SLC Management, of the election. “The 10-year has really zipped up in the past month.”
Election anxieties have been pronounced in the Treasury market and in gold GC00 ahead of the Nov. 5 election, Mullarkey said, especially with polling data indicating a very tight presidential race.
See: Gold hasn’t been acting like it normally does. What that means for investors.
The S&P 500 index SPX on ended lower Friday, despite its big boost from Tesla Inc.’s TSLA roughly 22% weekly gain after it wowed Wall Streetwith third-quarter earnings and an upbeat outlook.
The focus now turns to earnings due from Alphabet Inc. GOOG on Tuesday, followed by Microsoft Corp. MSFT and Meta Platforms Inc. META on Wednesday, and by Apple Inc. AAPL and Amazon.com Inc., AMZN on Thursday. AI chip maker Nvidia Corp NVDA reports results on Nov. 20.
“It’s a big week, with the ‘Magnificent Seven’ being very important earnings reports,” said Eric Beiley, executive managing director, wealth management at Steward Partners. “We need to see those companies produce strong results, because stocks are trading at extremely high valuations.”
Megacap tech stocks appear back in vogue, despite a broadening of the rally earlier this year to include midcap and even small-cap stocks that could benefit from the Federal Reserve’s pivot to interest rate cuts.
The Russell 2000 index RUT of small-cap stocks fell 3% in the week through Friday, while the S&P 500’s information technology sector XX:SP500.45 gained 0.2%, according to FactSet.