US stocks rose on Monday, as investors shrugged off the risks of a US government shutdown and turned their attention to economic data that may offer more insight about the pace of future interest-rate cuts.
The S&P 500 Index was up 0.4% and the Nasdaq 100 gained 0.6% at 9:34 a.m. in New York, with both indexes hovering near all-time highs.
Top congressional leaders will meet with President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday to discuss a short-term spending bill ahead of the deadline to avoid a shutdown. Upcoming data includes Tuesday’s JOLTS report, as well as Friday’s nonfarm payrolls report and Conference Board consumer confidence numbers.
“The positive sentiment around stocks has something to do with the hope for rate cuts, but lately the actual data has been pretty darn good,” said Brian Nick, head of portfolio strategy at Newedge Wealth. “We’re seeing those 2026 GDP growth estimates continue to inch up, and that’s supporting the earnings estimates that will need to come through for stocks to be supported at these high valuations.”
The S&P 500 is up around 13% year-to-date, with investors confident that earnings will remain resilient and the US economy can withstand an expected drag from elevated tariffs. Expectations of lower borrowing costs are another tailwind: The Fed resumed its rate cutting cycle in September with a 25-basis point reduction and is seen delivering another one next month.
Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. strategists including Christian Mueller-Glissmann recommended buying stocks into year-end, citing optimistic growth expectations and equities’ tendency to perform well in late-cycle economic slowdowns when Fed policy support was strong.
“Good earnings growth, Fed easing without a recession and global fiscal policy easing will continue to support equities,” the team wrote in a note. “With anchored recession risk, we would buy dips in equities into year-end.”
Banks, Commodities
Among single stock movers, UK drugmaker AstraZeneca plans to list regular shares on the New York Stock Exchange to attract more investors. Occidental Petroleum Corp. shares rose after the Financial Times reported that the company is in talks to sell its OxyChem petrochemical unit in a deal worth at least $10 billion. And MoonLake Immunotherapeutics sank more than 80% following disappointing late-stage clinical trial data on the biopharmaceutical company’s experimental drug.
Investors are watching financial stocks after Morgan Stanley raised price targets for large US banks by a median 14%, setting street-high targets for Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc. and State Street Corp. The analysts cut their recommendations on Wells Fargo & Co. and US Bancorp.
In commodities, oil stocks may be active as crude prices declined in anticipation of another production hike by OPEC+ in November, exacerbating concern about a glut. Miners are in focus after analysts at BofA Global Research hiked their copper price forecasts as mine supply comes under pressure while flagging a focus on pure-play copper names.
Separately, Barrick Mining Corp. appointed Mark Hill as interim chief executive officer after Mark Bristow departed following almost seven years in the top job.
A message from Advisor Perspectives and VettaFi: Discover something new! Click here to register for our upcoming webcasts.
Bloomberg News provided this article. For more articles like this please visit
bloomberg.com.
