(Updates with closing US market levels)
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Dow ends lower; S&P 500 and Nasdaq up
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Dollar up slightly; Fed officials give conflicting views
on
economy
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Earnings focus on tech firms
By Caroline Valetkevitch
NEW YORK, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Most major stock indexes
climbed on Monday following news that Amazon.com ( AMZN ) will
supply cloud-computing services to OpenAI, and the dollar rose
to a three-month high versus the euro due to waning expectations
for hefty U.S. interest rate cuts.
The Federal Reserve last week eased rates as expected, but Chair
Jerome Powell said another cut in December was "not a foregone
conclusion," contrary to some investors' view that it was
essentially a done deal.
Fed officials on Monday continued to give conflicting views on
where the economy stands and the risks facing it, a debate set
to intensify as the ongoing U.S. government shutdown prevents
the release of official data. Traders are pricing in a roughly
70% chance of a 25 basis point cut in December, down from about
94% a week ago.
The multi-year $38 billion Amazon-OpenAI deal provided
support to equities, with Amazon's ( AMZN ) stock ending 4% higher.
"We're still looking at this as a market driven by the
technology revolution that is certainly in full swing given AI,"
said Tim Ghriskey, senior portfolio strategist at Ingalls &
Snyder in New York.
"I don't see that slowing down at all. The bigger companies
have these massive R&D budgets that are just going to keep
cranking out new things. We will continue to see that for the
foreseeable future."
TRUMP'S TARIFFS
The U.S. Supreme Court is considering the legality of President
Donald Trump's global tariffs, with arguments set for Wednesday.
Under one legal authority or another, Trump's tariffs are
expected to stay in place long-term.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 226.19 points,
or 0.48%, to 47,336.68, the S&P 500 rose 11.77 points, or
0.17%, to 6,851.97 and the Nasdaq Composite climbed
109.77 points, or 0.46%, to 23,834.72.
MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe
rose 1.47 points, or 0.15%, to 1,007.70.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.07%.
Investors will also get more quarterly results from
technology companies this week.
After the closing bell, shares of data analytics company
Palantir Technologies ( PLTR ) were up about 1% as the company
reported
results and forecast fourth-quarter revenue above analysts'
estimates. Advanced Micro Devices ( AMD ), Qualcomm ( QCOM ),
Uber ( UBER ) and McDonald's are also due to report this
week.
U.S. megacap companies delivered a mixed bag of results last
week, and investors are looking for a return on the extensive
capital spending on AI.
DOLLAR GAINS AGAINST MAJOR CURRENCIES
The dollar extended its gains from last week against the
euro amid doubts about the outlook for another Fed rate cut this
year.
The euro, which slipped as low as $1.1505 against the
dollar, its weakest since August 1, pared losses to trade down
0.1% at $1.152225.
That followed Institute for Supply Management data showing
U.S. manufacturing contracted for an eighth straight month in
October as new orders remained subdued, and suppliers were
taking longer to deliver materials to factories against the
backdrop of tariffs on imported goods.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback
against a basket of currencies, rose 0.08% to 99.89. Against the
Japanese yen, the dollar strengthened 0.13% to 154.2.
Sterling weakened 0.12% to $1.3135, ahead of a Bank
of England rate decision later this week.
Cryptocurrency bitcoin was down 2.6% at $107,152.
U.S. Treasury yields rose amid high corporate debt issues
and as the government bond market kept last week's bearish tone.
The Treasury Department
released
its quarterly borrowing estimate of $569 billion in the
fourth quarter, $21 billion less than its July estimate.
The benchmark 10-year yield was last at 4.107%,
slightly higher than late last week. The two-year yield
of 3.6% was almost unchanged from Friday. The closely
watched part of the yield curve that plots two-year and 10-year
Treasuries
steepened
to 51 basis points.
U.S. crude rose 7 cents to settle at $61.05 a
barrel, while Brent crude futures rose 12 cents to
$64.89.
Investors weighed news that OPEC+ plans to end its supply
increases. Spot gold fell 0.03% to $4,000.26 an ounce.