US benchmark equity indexes experienced an upward trend on Monday as traders looked forward to the impending earnings reports from major technology companies later in the week, while oil prices faced a significant decline. The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased by 0.7%, reaching 42,387.6 points.
Meanwhile, both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite surged by 0.3%, closing at 5,823.5 and 18,567.2, respectively. Among the various sectors, financials emerged as the top gainers, whereas only energy and tech sectors closed lower. Tech giants including Apple ($AAPL), Microsoft ($MSFT), Alphabet, the parent company of Google ($GOOGL), Amazon.com ($AMZN), and Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook ($META), are set to disclose their latest quarterly financial results within the week. So far, approximately 37% of S&P 500 companies have reported their results, with quarterly profits demonstrating a rise of 3.6% compared to the previous year, accompanied by a 3.9% revenue growth, as noted by Oppenheimer Asset Management in a client update on Monday. In company-specific news, shares of 3M ($MMM) surged by 4.4%, marking it as the top gainer on the Dow and one of the best performers on the S&P 500.
This uptick followed JPMorgan's adjustment of its price target on the stock from $160 to $165, while maintaining an overweight rating. McDonald's ($MCD) was another standout, witnessing a 1.4% increase on the Dow. The fast-food titan announced the anticipated return of its Quarter Pounder hamburgers in all restaurants this week, having previously excluded beef patties as a potential source of a recent E.
coli outbreak. In a significant corporate development, Boeing ($BA) revealed plans to offer 90 million common shares to raise capital amidst an ongoing labor strike that's adversely impacted its financial stability. Shares of Boeing fell by 2.8%, marking the steepest decline on the Dow. Centene ($CNC) struggled too, ranking as the second-worst performer in the S&P 500, declining by 4% after Jefferies adjusted its price target from $72 to $68, while retaining its hold rating. On the commodities front, West Texas Intermediate crude oil plummeted by 5.3%, settling at $68 per barrel.
This decline was attributed to Israel's retaliatory strike against Iran over the weekend, which bypassed oil and nuclear facilities and did not impede energy supplies, according to D.A. Davidson's Monday client note. In bond markets, the US 10-year yield rose by 4.6 basis points to reach 4.28%, while the two-year rate increased by 3.5 basis points to 4.13%. From an economic perspective, Texas manufacturing activity displayed an unexpected improvement, moving into shallower contraction territory in October due to positive swings in production, as reported by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Florida's housing affordability crisis has intensified due to rising property taxes, largely driven by pandemic-era migration and compounded by increasing climate disasters, as reported by Redfin ($RDFN). Meanwhile, gold prices remained stable at $2,755.10 per troy ounce, whereas silver prices witnessed a marginal rise of 0.2%, reaching $33.86 per ounce..