As Wall Street braces for the US presidential election on Tuesday (November 5), market participants will be keenly watching its outcome and the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy decision over the coming week.
According to several reports, Democratic candidate and US Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican opponent and former President Donald Trump are engaged in a tight presidential race for the White House.
Next week’s presidential elections will be followed by the two-day meeting of the US central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), starting on Wednesday.
Fed policymakers, led by Chairman Jerome Powell, will announce their decision on Thursday.
In September, the Fed began its rate-cutting campaign with a half-percentage point cut.
The Fed is widely expected to cut rates for a second time this year as inflation continues to decline.
Several economists predict an interest rate cut of a quarter of a percentage point, to about 4.6 percent.
The Fed’s policy decision will be followed by Powell’s press conference on Thursday.
Next week’s earnings calendar will feature a number of major companies, such as Palantir Technologies, Yum! Brands and Qualcomm announce their third quarter results.
Economic events
Factory order data for September will be released on November 4 (Monday).
US trade deficit data for September and ISM services for October will be released on November 5 (Tuesday).
The S&P final PMI figures for the US services sector for October will be released on November 6 (Wednesday).
On November 7 (Thursday), the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) will announce its decision on interest rates and Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will hold a press conference.
Consumer credit data for September and US productivity (tentative) for the third quarter will also be released on the same day.
A report on consumer confidence (provisional) for November will be published on November 8 (Friday).
Income
The following companies will report third-quarter earnings in the coming week: Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Palantir Technologies, Constellation Energy, Zoetis, Marriott International, American International Group, Diamondback Energy, Illumina, Ferrari, Apollo Global Management, Emerson Electric, Marathon Petroleum, Cummins , Microchip technology, Yum! Brands, DuPont de Nemours, Restaurant Brands International, Archer-Daniels-Midland, Novo Nordisk, Toyota Motor, Qualcomm, Arm Holdings, Gilead Sciences, MercadoLibre, CVS Health, McKesson, Williams Companies, Sempra, Johnson Controls International, Corteva, Take- Two interactive software, Arista Networks, Duke Energy, Airbnb, Petroleo Brasileiro, Motorola Solutions, Air Products Chemicals, Becton, Dickinson, Fortinet, Block, TELUS, NRG Energy, Baxter International, Paramount Global, CNH Industrial, Fluor and Embraer.
US markets last week
US stocks closed higher on Friday, led by Amazon.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 288.73 points, or 0.69 percent, to 42,052.19, the S&P 500 gained 23.35 points, or 0.41 percent, to 5,728.80 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 144.77 points, or 0.80 percent, to 18,239.92.
This week, the S&P 500 fell 1.38 percent, the Nasdaq fell 1.51 percent and the Dow Jones fell 0.16 percent.
The interest rate on government bonds with a two-year term rose to 4.20 percent. The interest rate on ten-year government bonds rose to 4.37 percent.
Crude oil prices rose slightly on Friday after reports that Iran is preparing a retaliatory attack on Israel in the coming days.
Brent futures rose 29 cents, or 0.4 percent, to settle at $73.10 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude gained 23 cents, or 0.3 percent, to settle at $69.49.
