04:02 PM EDT, 10/14/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Major US equity aggregates end higher Monday as markets awaited key corporate earnings scheduled for later in the week.

* UnitedHealth ( UNH ) , Johnson & Johnson ( JNJ ) , Bank of America ( BAC ) , Goldman Sachs ( GS ) , Citigroup ( C ) , Netflix (NFLX), Morgan Stanley (MS), Procter & Gamble ( PG ) and American Express ( AXP ) are among the major companies scheduled to report their latest quarterly financial results later this week.

* Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari said he expects "modest reductions" in the federal funds rate over the coming quarters, but repeated that the health of the economy will determine the pace and magnitude of reductions.

* Last month, the central bank's Federal Open Market Committee cut interest rates by 50 basis points.

* November West Texas Intermediate crude oil closed down $1.72 to settle at $73.84 per barrel, while December Brent crude, the global benchmark, was last seen down $1.58 to $77.42 as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries cut its 2024 and 2025 global oil demand projections on Monday, while holding supply estimates steady.

* In its latest monthly oil report, the cartel lowered its demand growth estimate for this year to 1.93 million barrels a day from 2.03 million barrels projected in September. The revision reflects "actual data" received and slightly lower demand expectations in some regions, the OPEC said.

* Longboard Pharmaceuticals ( LBPH ) agreed to be acquired by Danish pharmaceutical company H. Lundbeck in a deal with an equity value of about $2.6 billion. Longboard's shares were up 52%.

* Boeing ( BA ) was down 1.4%. Late last week, the troubled plane maker outlined plans to cut jobs and announced a preliminary Q3 loss wider than Wall Street's estimates.