Stock futures rise with Nasdaq set to add to records as oil prices decline

U.S. equity futures jumped on Monday as investors looked for a batch of megacap technology earnings to keep driving the Nasdaq Composite to new heights this week. A cooling geopolitical situation also aided risk sentiment.

Weekend airstrikes by Israel against Iran did not target oil or nuclear facilities as was feared and oil futures were lower in early trading.

Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 200 points, or 0.5%. S&P 500 futures gained 0.6%, and Nasdaq 100 futures increased by 0.8%.

The market was split at the end of last week. On Friday, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite jumped to a new intraday all-time high. On the flip side, the Dow shed more than 200 points. The broad-market S&P 500 inched lower in the previous session.

Both the Dow and S&P snapped a six-week winning streak, but the Nasdaq eked out its seventh positive week in a row.

Wall Street is bracing for a big week in markets that will mark the busiest week of third-quarter earnings reporting season and the final week before the Nov. 5 U.S. Presidential election. Five of the Magnificent Seven companies – Alphabet, Microsoft, Meta Platforms, Amazon and Apple – are scheduled to report third-quarter earnings.

“One thing we expect to see play out is these megacap tech names continuing to reinforce commitment to AI in tech spending broadly,” Yung-Yu Ma chief investment officer at BMO Wealth Management, told CNBC. “I don’t think there’s going to be any backing away from that.”

“If for some reason we don’t get that – if a few of those tech companies reporting talk about say tapping on the brakes a little bit in some of these investments – the market would not take that well,” he added. “So that’s going to be somewhat impactful, for the market to actually hear that these companies are continuing their commitment to spending in this area, if not accelerating.”

Traders are also watching for a slew of key economic data this week, including the September jobs report due Friday; the September personal consumption expenditures, or PCE, price index, expected Thursday; and a preliminary reading on third-quarter gross domestic product out on Wednesday.