US Market Open Or Not On Monday, October 21, 2024; What Will Drive Dow Jones, S&P 500, Nasdaq This Week?

The US market will be open on Monday, October 21, 2024, due to the lack of any public holiday on this day. Key factors that will influence indices like Dow Jones, S&P 500, and Nasdaq would be US elections, Q3 earnings, the latest development in the Middle East war, and a slew of economic data. In the early trade, US stock futures inched up, as investors are likely to look into fresh catalysts this week.

In the trading week from October 14 to 18th, the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite index rose by around 1% each.

Dow Jones: The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) index is currently at 43,275.91.

S&P 500: This index is currently at 5,864.67.

Nasdaq Composite: The tech-heavy index is at 18,489.55.

According to Trading Economics, investors remained cautious in the lead-up to the US presidential election and about rising geopolitical risks. Markets now look ahead to US PMI reports, durable goods orders and data on existing and new home sales this week. On the corporate front, roughly one-fifth of S&P 500 companies are set to report through Friday, including Tesla, Coca-Cola, 3M, General Motors and Verizon.

Weekly Outlook For the US Market:

In its latest note, Charles Schwab said, "On a near-term basis performance is a little stretched on the upside (SPX +5% in 5 weeks) and investor sentiment is lop-sided in favour of the bulls, but neither are at extremes. Additionally, the relatively underperforming small caps appear to be playing catch-up (RUT closed at a two-year high on Wednesday), which potentially will help sustain the recent uptrend. Next week the economic calendar is light so the focus will be on Q3 earnings, which have been strong so far."

Nate Peterson, the Director of Derivatives Analysis for Schwab said, "At this point, I don't see enough to suggest that we may be setting up for a mean reversion pullback, so the path of least resistance still seems to be higher in my view. Therefore, my overall forecast for next week is once again "slightly bullish"."

He added, "What could challenge my outlook? If the benign earnings momentum doesn't continue throughout next week perhaps this could provide enough of an excuse for investors to take profits, resulting in a modest pullback in stocks."

On Monday, key earnings to watch out for are -- Sandy Springs Bancorp Inc. (SASR), SAP SE (SAP), Nucor Corp. (NUE), WR Berkley Corp. (WRB), Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc. (ARE), AGNC Investment Corp. (AGNC), Zions Bancorp (ZION).

Economic Data To Watch Out are:

- October 21, Monday: Leading Indicators

- October 22, Tuesday: no reports

- October 23, Wednesday: EIA Crude Oil Inventories, Existing Home Sales, MBA Mortgage Applications Index

- October 24, Thursday: Continuing Claims, EIA Natural Gas Inventories, Initial Claims, New Home Sales

- October 25, Friday: Durable Goods, Durable Goods-ex transportation, University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment - Final