© Reuters
By Peter Nurse
Investing.com — U.S. stocks are seen opening just higher Monday, continuing the previous week’s positive tone ahead of the release of major corporate earnings and quarterly growth data.
At 07:00 ET (11:00 GMT), the contract was up 150 points, or 0.5%, traded 16 points, or 0.4%, higher, and climbed 23 points, or 0.3%.
The main U.S. equity indices posted strong gains last week, with the blue-chip climbing 750 points, or 2.5%, the broad-based rose 2.4%, and the tech-heavy fell 2.3%.
These added to gains from earlier in the week, with all three averages climbing around 5% over the week, the best week since June.
The earnings season so far has been largely positive, particularly in the banking sector, but it is set to ramp up this week, with the four largest U.S. companies by market capitalization due to report in the coming week.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:) and Alphabet (NASDAQ:) are due to report on Tuesday, followed by Amazon (NASDAQ:) and Apple (NASDAQ:) on Thursday. Investors will be keen to see how these corporate bellwethers are performing against a backdrop of soaring and the Federal Reserve’s aggressive path.
Additionally. Tesla (NASDAQ:) stock fell over 3% premarket after the electric car manufacturer cut starter prices for its Model 3 and Model Y cars by as much as 9% in China amid signs of softening demand in the world’s largest auto market.
The week’s main economic data is the first release of third quarter on Thursday, with the economy expected to have expanded at an annualized rate of 2.4% after two consecutive quarters of contraction in the first half of the year.
October and data are due later in the session, with the equivalent data in Europe showing that the showdown in intensified in October, hitting its lowest level in 23 months.
Oil prices fell Monday after data showed demand in China, the world’s largest importer of crude, remained subdued in September as its zero-COVID policy continued to limit activity.
China imported 40.24 million tons of crude oil last month, equivalent to about 9.79 million barrels per day, data released Monday, a week behind schedule, showed. This was up slightly from 9.5 million barrels in August, but still below the near 10 million barrels a day imported a year earlier.
By 07:00 ET, futures traded 0.9% lower at $84.30 a barrel, while the contract fell 0.7% to $90.72.
Additionally, fell 0.2% to $1,653.40/oz, while traded 0.4% lower at 0.9823.
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