US STOCKS-Wall St edges higher ahead of Fed meeting, big earnings week

iRobot

29/01/2024 19:47

* 
      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'
    

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      Indexes up: S&P 500 +0.24%, Nasdaq +0.53%, Dow +0.08%
    

  
 (Updates to 14:12 EST)
    By Stephen Culp
       NEW YORK, Jan 29 (Reuters) - 
    U.S. stocks rose modestly on Monday, with few catalysts to
spark much conviction before this week's slew of megacap
earnings, economic data and the Federal Reserve's monetary
policy meeting.
  
    The Nasdaq Composite Index  .IXIC  and the S&P 500  .SPX 
advanced, with the latter poised to eke out yet another record
closing high. 
    BlackRock raised its overall U.S. stocks view to
"overweight" from "neutral."
    The Dow Jones Industrial Average  .DJI  was essentially
unchanged.
    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 .
    "Investors are looking forward to 20% of the companies in
the S&P 500 reporting earnings this week," said Sam Stovall,
chief investment strategist of CFRA Research in New York. "And
with so many of the behemoths reporting this week, I think that
will help investors to decide whether strong expectations will
come true."
        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 (FOMC) 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%.
    "The first question that investors will be trying to glean
from the statement as well as press conference is whether the
Fed will be cutting rates in March, May or even June," Stovall
added. "It's our belief that rate cuts will be later and fewer
that Wall Street is anticipating." 
        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 at 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.
        The S&P 500 climbed 0.24% to 4,902.83 points. The Nasdaq
gained 0.53% at 15,537.08 points, while Dow rose 0.08% to
38,140.97 points.
    Of the 11 S&P 500 sector indexes, eight rose, led by
consumer discretionary  .SPLRCD , up 0.72%, followed by a 0.46%
gain in communication services  .SPLRCL .
        Tesla Inc  TSLA.O  gained 3.1% after the electric car
maker revealed capex plans.
    Robot  IRBT.O  dropped 7.0% as the robot vacuum maker and
Amazon scrapped merger plans in the face of opposition from EU
antitrust regulators.
    Meta Platforms  META.O  rose 1.6% after brokerage Jefferies
raised its target price on the stock to $455 from $425.
    Warner Bros Discovery  WBD.O  lost 2.6% as brokerage Wells
Fargo downgraded the streaming platform to "equal weight" from
"overweight."
    Financial technology firm SoFi Technologies  SOFI.O  jumped
19.4% after posting a fourth-quarter profit.
        Advancing issues outnumbered falling ones within the S&P
500  .AD.SPX  by a 1.1-to-one ratio.
    

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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))