US STOCKS-Wall St closes higher ahead of Fed meeting, big tech earnings

iRobot

29/01/2024 21:00

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      Amazon, iRobot abandon merger in face of EU opposition
    

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      SoFi rises after posting Q4 profit vs year-ago loss
    

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      BlackRock raises US stocks view to 'overweight' from
'neutral'
    

  
 (Updates to market close)
    By Stephen Culp
       NEW YORK, Jan 29 (Reuters) - 
    U.S. stocks advanced on Monday as market participants looked
ahead to this week's slew of megacap earnings, economic data and
the Federal Reserve's monetary policy meeting.
  
        All three major U.S. stock indexes advanced, with the
tech-laden Nasdaq  .IXIC  enjoying the largest percentage gain. 
  
    The S&P 500  .SPX  notched yet another record closing high.
    With the bellwether index up over 3% so far in the first
month of 2024, BlackRock raised its overall U.S. stocks view to
"overweight" from "neutral."
    "Today is the calm before the storm," said Ryan Detrick,
chief market strategist at Carson Group in Omaha. "This is a
truly headline-driven week, with earnings, the Fed, the jobs
report and ongoing geopolitical uncertainties."
        "So with stocks at all time high, if we see any
disappointments that could upset the apple cart and cause some
well-deserved volatility," Detrick added.
  
    A spate of earnings from high profile tech and tech-adjacent
momentum stocks waits in the wings, starting on Tuesday with
Alphabet Inc  GOOGL.O  and Microsoft Corp  MSFT.O , Qualcomm Inc
 QCOM.O  and Wednesday and culminating on Thursday with Apple
Inc  AAPL.O , Amazon.com  AMZN.O  and Meta Platforms Inc
 META.O .
        Other closely watched results include General Motors Inc
 GM.N  on Tuesday, Boeing Co  BA.N  on Thursday, with oil
supermajors Exxon Mobil Corp  XOM.N  and Chevron Corp  CVX.N 
wrapping up the week on Friday.
    The Federal Open Markets Committee is scheduled to convene
on Tuesday for its two-day monetary policy meeting, at which its
voting members are widely expected to leave the key Fed funds
target rate unchanged at 5.25% to 5.50%.
    "Powell is probably going to be somewhat cautious. The Fed
doesn't want to be burned by inflation, and will push back on
the (expected) March cut as a near certainty," Detrick said. 
        Fed Chair Jerome Powell and other policymakers have
warned not to expect interest rate cuts before inflation cools
down to its average 2% annual target, but have also vowed to
remain agile as they respond to economic data.
    This week's roster of economic reports includes the labor
market, with the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, ADP,
fourth-quarter employment costs, productivity, and planned
layoffs, and the January employment report on Friday.
    Case-Shiller home prices, consumer confidence, the Institute
for Supply Management's (ISM) purchasing managers' index (PMI),
construction spending and factory orders are also on deck.
    Robust economic data of late - particularly last week's
strong gross domestic product and personal consumption
expenditures data - have simultaneously calmed fears of imminent
recession and tossed cold water on hopes that the Fed would
begin cutting interest rates as soon as March.
        According to preliminary data, the S&P 500
 .SPX  gained 37.25 points, or 0.76%, to end at 4,928.22 points,
while the Nasdaq Composite  .IXIC  gained 173.66 points, or
1.12%, to 15,629.02. The Dow Jones Industrial Average
 .DJI  rose 226.45 points, or 0.59%, to 38,335.88.
    
  
        Tesla Inc  TSLA.O  gained after the electric car maker
revealed capex plans.
    Robot  IRBT.O  dropped as the robot vacuum maker and Amazon
scrapped merger plans in the face of opposition from EU
antitrust regulators.
    Meta Platforms  META.O  advanced after brokerage Jefferies
raised its target price on the stock to $455 from $425.
    Warner Bros Discovery  WBD.O  slipped as brokerage Wells
Fargo downgraded the streaming platform to "equal weight" from
"overweight."
    Financial technology firm SoFi Technologies  SOFI.O  surged
after posting a fourth-quarter profit.
    

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 (Reporting by Stephen Culp; Additional Reporting by Ankika
Biswas and Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Richard
Chang)
 ((stephen.culp@thomsonreuters.com; 646-223-6076))