By Caroline Valetkevitch
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Global stock indexes rose on Monday as investors awaited earnings reports this week from some of the biggest U.S. technology companies, while oil prices fell 6% after Israel’s retaliatory strike against Iran bypassed oil and nuclear facilities last weekend. .
The Japanese yen fell to a three-month low against the dollar after elections in Japan plunged the country into political unrest.
US earnings season is in full swing, with a long list of names set to report this week, including five of the biggest US companies: Google parent Alphabet (NASDAQ:), Microsoft (NASDAQ:), Facebook owner Meta Platforms ( NASDAQ:), Apple (NASDAQ:) and Amazon.com (NASDAQ:).
This week, Friday also brings the US jobs report for October, as investors keep a close eye on political news with the US presidential election just over a week away.
Employers are expected to have added 123,000 jobs in October, while the unemployment rate is likely to have remained steady at 4.1%, according to economists polled by Reuters.
The election for US president is expected to be close. Vice President Kamala Harris, a Democrat, led Republican Donald Trump nationally by a marginal 46% to 43%, a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll showed. Election Day in the US is November 5.
Ten-year US Treasury yields reached their highest level in three months ahead of this week’s data and the election. They were last up 4.4 basis points at 4.274% in US afternoon trading.
“It’s the calm before the storm,” said Subadra Rajappa, head of US rates strategy at Societe Generale (OTC:) in New York. “Many investors are a little more cautious in the run-up to the elections.”
Oil prices fell as concerns about a wider war in the Middle East eased. futures settled at $71.42 per barrel, down $4.63 or 6.09%. WTI futures settled at $67.38, down $4.40 or 6.13%.
Energy stocks fell along with oil prices, with the energy sector down 0.7%, while the three major US stock indexes closed higher.
The S&P 500 rose 273.17 points, or 0.65%, to 42,387.57, the S&P 500 rose 15.40 points, or 0.27%, to 5,823.52 and the S&P 500 rose 48.58 points, or 0.26%, to 18,567.19.
Shares of Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent company of Trump’s Truth Social platform, rose 21.6% on Monday, continuing a recent rally.
The MSCI index for shares around the world rose 2.44 points, or 0.29%, to 847.93. The index rose 0.41%.
The yen remained under pressure as the Japanese ruling coalition’s election loss adds to political and monetary policy uncertainty.
Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party lost its parliamentary majority. The party, with junior coalition partner Komeito, won 215 seats in the House of Commons in Sunday’s elections, public broadcaster NHK reported, well short of the 233 needed for a majority.
Against the yen, the dollar rose as much as 1% to a high of 153.88, the yen’s weakest level since late July. The dollar last rose 0.64% to 153.28.
Also, the , which measures the dollar against a basket of currencies, fell 0.08% to 104.30, and the euro rose 0.19% to $1.0813.
