Stock futures surge slightly on the first day of November

On Monday, U.S. stock futures increased slightly in the first trading morning of November as investors prepared for a new month.

Participants in the Market are preparing for another week of corporate earnings. There is an important Federal Reserve meeting on Wednesday, but October’s jobs report is before that.

Dow futures increased 59 points. Nasdaq 100 futures and S&P 500 futures traded in moderately positive areas.

On Friday, Stocks finished the month of October while all three major averages ended at record highs. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed their best months since November last year.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged by 5.9% last month. The S&P 500 rallied 6.8% in October, and the technology-focused Nasdaq Composite had an additional 7.4% in October. October marked a rebound from September, where the significant indexes decreased.

Corporate earnings season ruled October in the middle of solid earnings even with global supply chain issues. Nearly half of the S&P 500 firms and businesses reported quarterly results. According to Refinitiv, more than 81% of those companies beat earnings calculations from Wall Street analysts.

Overview

Investors will continue monitoring the Federal Reserve’s two-day meeting this Tuesday and Wednesday as earnings season proceeds this week. Analysts expect the central bank to announce that it will start to loosen up its $120 billion in monthly bond-buying and end the program entirely in 2022.

Investors and analysts will also be waiting for the Fed’s comments on increasing prices as inflation runs at a 30-year high.

Peter Boockvar, Bleakley Advisory Group CIO, said that the Fed is part of a global movement to remove accommodation, while the market drives right through that. He added that it seems the stock market is trying to play a game with this inflation move and changing interest rates, including the response from central banks. On Friday, October’s employment report will appear that will count as the other big event for the week. It could also show some improvement in hiring as new cases of Covid-19 continued to decrease.

Chief investment strategist for Leuthold Group, Jim Paulsen, said that analysts expect the change in nonfarm payrolls to be a strong 450K which might lower the unemployment rate. He added that the key to the report would be how much wage inflation increases and if the labor force participation rate finally manages to pick up after so many widespread unemployment benefits.