Stock futures opened slightly higher Monday evening, steadying near record levels as investors awaited another hefty set of earnings and economic data.
The S&P 500 and Dow had each reached all-time highs during Monday’s session, with equity investors proving resilient even in the face of ongoing supply chain challenges and elevated inflationary pressures.
The Nasdaq Composite jumped by 0.9%, coming within 1% of its own record closing high as shares of Tesla (TSLA) rallied for a fourth straight session, bringing the stock’s market capitalization above $1 trillion for the first time. Technology stocks also gained broadly as investors awaited earnings results from the likes of Alphabet (GOOGL), Twitter (TWTR) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) on Tuesday, and other tech heavyweights including Amazon (AMZN) and Apple (AAPL) later this week.
Facebook (FB) shares gained in late trading even after the company posted mixed third-quarter results and revenue guidance that missed expectations. The social media giant also said it would be changing its reporting structure to break out Facebook Reality Labs in its own separate segment, following the company’s ample investment in building out its virtual reality products and metaverse. It noted it expected investment in Facebook Reality Labs to reduce overall operating profit by about $10 billion this year.
Stocks have jumped so far in October as investors at least temporarily shook off concerns over rising input and labor costs, and widespread shortages, for companies across a broad range of industries. Even given these pressures, many companies have managed to exceed Wall Street’s earnings expectations in their latest quarterly results, which largely reflected companies’ abilities to absorb or pass on heightened costs at least for the time being.
With earnings rolling in this month, the S&P 500 has so far gained 6% in October, and is heading for its best month since November 2020.
“The S&P 500 Index has gained more than 20% so far this year, making more than 50 record highs along the way. Certainly nobody should be upset with that return if that was all 2021 brought us,” Ryan Detrick, Chief Market Strategist for LPL Financial, wrote in an email. “However, we see signs that there could be more gains to come in the final two months of the year.”
“Seasonal tailwinds, improving market internals, and clear signs of a peak in the Delta variant all provide potential fuel for equities heading into year-end, and we maintain our overweight equities recommendation as a result,” he added.
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6:03 p.m. ET Monday: Stock futures tick up
Here’s where markets were trading as the overnight session kicked off:
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S&P 500 futures (ES=F): +6 points (+0.13%), to 4,564.00
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Dow futures (YM=F): +22 points (+0.06%), to 35,642.00
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Nasdaq futures (NQ=F): +33 points (+0.21%) to 15,528.75
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Emily McCormick is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter
