Stock Market Today: S&P 500, Dow Jones Futures Rise After Stellar October Gains— Micron Tech, Palantir, Hims & Hers In Focus

U.S. stock futures advanced on Monday after Friday’s positive moves. Futures of major benchmark indices were higher.

Even as the government shutdown continued for over a month, the stocks gained in October; the S&P 500 added 1.85%, the Dow surged 1.72%, and the Nasdaq jumped 4.33%.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump defended his economic record, pointing to a surging stock market as a rebuttal to concerns like higher inflation and high grocery prices. Additionally, he identified several key sectors that he says are directly benefiting from his administration's economic policies.

The 10-year Treasury bond yielded 4.08% and the two-year bond was at 3.58%. The CME Group's FedWatch tool‘s projections show markets pricing a 69.3% likelihood of the Federal Reserve cutting the current interest rates during its December meeting.

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) and Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (NASDAQ:QQQ), which track the S&P 500 index and Nasdaq 100 index, respectively, rose in premarket on Monday. The SPY was up 0.38% at $684.66, while the QQQ advanced 0.59% to $632.80, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Stocks In Focus

Micron Technology

• Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) jumped 4.32% in premarket on Monday following multiple updates from last week, which include an upbeat memory chip forecast from SK Hynix and CEO Sanjay Mehrotra selling $5.13 million in stock last week.

• Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate that MU maintains a stronger price trend over the short, medium, and long terms, with a moderate value ranking. Additional performance details are available here.

Spirit AeroSystems Holdings

• Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc. (NYSE:SPR) tumbled 1.34% after reporting a loss of $4.87 per share. The company reported quarterly sales of $1.585 billion, which missed the analyst consensus estimate of $1.923 billion.

• SPR maintained a stronger price trend over the long term but a weak trend in the short and medium terms, with a poor growth ranking. Additional performance details, as per Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings, are available here.

Palantir Technologies

• Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR) was 1.66% higher ahead of its earnings scheduled to be released after the closing bell. Analysts expect it to report earnings of 15 cents per share on revenue of $1.09 billion.

• PLTR maintained a stronger price trend over short, medium, and long terms, as per Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings, with a poor value ranking. Additional performance details are available here.

Hims & Hers Health

• Hims & Hers Health Inc. (NYSE:HIMS) gained 2.95% as analysts expect it to report earnings of 10 cents per share on the revenue of $581.38 million after the closing bell.

• HIMS maintains a weaker price trend over the short and medium terms but a strong trend in the long term, with a strong growth ranking. Additional information is available here.

Goodyear Tire & Rubber

• Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (NASDAQ:GT) was up 0.58% ahead of its earnings scheduled to be released after the closing bell. Analysts expect it to report earnings of 15 cents per share on revenue of $1.09 billion.

• GT maintained a weaker price trend over short, medium, and long terms, with a moderate quality ranking. Additional performance details, as per Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings, are available here.

Cues From Last Session

Sectors gaining on Friday included consumer discretionary and energy stocks, which bucked the overall market trend. Most sectors on the S&P 500, however, closed negatively, with consumer staples, materials, and utilities stocks recording the biggest losses for the session.

Despite this, U.S. stocks settled higher, the Nasdaq Composite gaining 100+ points as upbeat mega-cap earnings kept the rally alive.

Insights From Analysts

Ryan Detrick, the chief market strategist at Carson Research, has countered the bearish narrative that the market rally is weak and concentrated in just a few mega-cap stocks. He argued that the bull market has significant underlying strength, proven by the performance of equal-weight indices.

Detrick points out that the equal-weight versions of the S&P 500, the Dow, and the Nasdaq all hit all-time highs simultaneously. This is a crucial distinction from their more common market-cap-weighted counterparts, where the performance of giants like Apple or Nvidia can mask weakness in other areas.

In an equal-weight index, every stock has the same influence. Therefore, seeing these indices hit new highs proves the rally is broad-based, meaning the average stock is performing exceptionally well.

This widespread participation, rather than a rally led by just a few “generals,” is a classic indicator of a healthy, sustainable market trend. For Detrick, this is clear evidence that this “bull market still has plenty of strength” left.

See Also: How to Trade Futures

Upcoming Economic Data

Here's what investors will be keeping an eye on this week;

• On Monday, October’s S&P final U.S. manufacturing PMI and ISM manufacturing will be released by 9:45 a.m. and 10:00 a.m., respectively. Also, September’s construction spending data will be delayed because of the government shutdown.

• San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly will speak at 12:00 p.m., Fed governor Lisa Cook will speak at 2:00 p.m. ET, and October’s auto sales data will also be released.

• On Tuesday, Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman will speak at 6:35 a.m. ET and September’s U.S. trade deficit, factory orders, and job openings data will be delayed because of the shutdown.

• On Wednesday, October’s ADP employment data will be out by 8:15 a.m., S&P final U.S. services PMI by 9:45 a.m., and October’s ISM services data by 10:00 a.m. ET.

• On Thursday, the initial jobless claims data for the latest week will be delayed, along with third-quarter U.S. productivity data and September’s wholesale inventories data.

• Fed governor Michael Barr and New York Fed President John Williams will speak at 11:00 a.m., Fed governor Christopher Waller at 3:30 p.m., Philadelphia Fed President Anna Paulson at 4:30 p.m., and St. Louis Fed President Alberto Musalem at 5:30 p.m. ET.

• On Friday, New York Fed President John Williams will speak again at 3:00 a.m. and Fed Vice Chair Philip Jefferson will speak at 7:00 a.m. ET. October’s U.S. employment report, unemployment rate, and hourly wages data will be delayed.

• Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan will speak at 9:30 a.m. and Fed Governor Stephen Miran at 3:00 p.m. ET.

• November’s preliminary consumer sentiment data will be out by 10:00 a.m. and September’s consumer credit data by 3:00 p.m. ET.

Commodities, Gold, Crypto, And Global Equity Markets

Crude oil futures were trading lower in the early New York session by 0.16% to hover around $60.88 per barrel.

Gold Spot US Dollar fell 0.11% to hover around $4,006.77 per ounce. Its last record high stood at $4,381.6 per ounce. The U.S. Dollar Index spot was 0.07% higher at the 99.8720 level.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) was trading 3.07% lower at $107,332.59 per coin.

Asian markets closed higher on Monday, including South Korea's Kospi, Japan's Nikkei 225, Australia's ASX 200, Hong Kong's Hang Seng, India’s NIFTY 50, and China’s CSI 300 indices. European markets were mostly higher in early trade.

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