Major U.S. stock indexes were up early Monday following a Wall Street rally on Friday driven by strong tech earnings.
Bumper results from Microsoft and Google parent Alphabet were enough to put worries over sticky inflation and slowing growth by the wayside. Friday's core personal consumption expenditures (PCE) index, which the Fed uses as its preferred gauge of inflation, showed prices rising by 2.8 percent this year through March, excluding food and energy. That came in slightly higher than estimates, and still above the Federal Reserve's 2 percent target. The PCE reading followed a dismal GDP report on Thursday showing the economy expanded by just 1.6 percent in the first quarter.
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Later this week, the Fed is set to hold a policy meeting and it looks unlikely that any interest rate cut will be announced.
High interest rates in the U.S. have put pressure on the Japanese yen, which swung wildly on Monday. The currency hit a 34-year low against the dollar early in the day before gaining suddenly, causing speculation that the Bank of Japan had intervened.
"The move has all the hallmarks of an actual BoJ intervention," market analyst Tony Sycamore wrote on X. "What better time to do it than other on a Japanese public holiday which means lower liquidity in USD/JPY and more Bang for the BoJ's buck!!"
Markets are closed on Monday in Japan as the country kicks off Golden Week, a series of national holidays.
The Bank of Japan did not immediately respond to a request for comment when emailed by Newsweek.
A dollar will currently buy around 155.80 yen.
In the U.S., Monday marks the start of another busy week of earnings from big-name brands. Investors will be keeping a close eye on Amazon and Apple, members of the so-called Magnificent Seven, to see if they can follow the performance of their fellow mega-cap companies Microsoft, Alphabet, Meta Platforms, and Tesla. The remaining member of the seven, leading artificial intelligence company Nvidia, reports its quarterly results later in May.
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This week is less about Big Tech and more about Big Macs, with investors also watching a string of fast-food and fast-food adjacent stocks. Results from McDonald's, Coca-Cola, Pizza Hut and KFC's parent company are all on the menu.
Earnings Highlights To Watch This Week
- Monday: Domino's Pizza, Paramount, SoFi Technologies
- Tuesday: Amazon, Eli Lilly, Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Starbucks, Stellantis, Mondelez, PayPal, 3M
- Wednesday: Mastercard, Pfizer, CVS, Marriott, DoorDash, The Kraft Heinz Company, Pizza Hut and KFC parent Yum! Brands, eBay
- Thursday: Apple, pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk, Shell, Moderna
- Friday: Berkshire Hathaway, AMC
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