As the US benchmark equity indexes approached Monday's close, traders observed a mixed performance. The Nasdaq Composite exhibited a gain of 1.3%, reaching 20,184.7, while the S&P 500 saw an increase of 0.5%, settling at 6,078.4. In contrast, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.1% to 43,775.9.
Notably, the communication services and consumer discretionary sectors led the upward trend, while energy experienced the most significant decline. Traders are keenly anticipating the Federal Reserve's Federal Open Market Committee's monetary policy decision scheduled for Wednesday. Markets widely forecast a quarter-percentage-point reduction in the Fed's benchmark lending rate, as indicated by the CME FedWatch tool.
This prospective move would represent a consecutive decrease of 25 basis points, following a more substantial 50-basis-point cut in September. Yields on the US 10-year and two-year notes remained relatively stable at 4.40% and 4.24%, respectively. In the upcoming days, a host of major corporations are set to release their quarterly financial results, including Accenture, Nike, Micron Technology, Cintas, FedEx, Lennar, General Mills, and Carnival.
These earnings reports are anticipated to provide further insights into the overall health of the economy. In commodity markets, West Texas Intermediate crude oil experienced a slight decline of 1%, priced at $70.57 per barrel..