Wall Street opened higher on Monday as investors’ sentiment seems upbeat about the upcoming slew of earnings and the possibility of another rate cut by the Federal Reserve.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 194 points, or 0.4%, while the S&P 500 rose 0.6% and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.8%.
An optimistic signal from the equities was already around as stock futures were doing great in the early trading on Monday.
Moreover, the investors’ mood was also uplifted by the developments around trade after a Wall Street Journal report, which claimed that President Donald Trump is considering exempting dozens of products from reciprocal tariffs.
Wall Street open: What happened in pre-market trading?
Several stocks made notable moves in premarket trading on Monday.
Cleveland-Cliffs surged over 9% after announcing plans to expand its presence in rare earth metals production, focusing on mining sites in Michigan and Minnesota, signaling a strategic shift beyond traditional steel manufacturing.
This move follows their upcoming quarterly earnings report, where analysts expect an EPS of -0.46, with investors hopeful for positive guidance despite recent losses.
Liberty Energy rose nearly 29% premarket after reporting resilient Q3 results despite industry deflationary pressures.
The company posted $947 million in revenue, slightly below forecasts, but exceeded earnings expectations with a surprise 26-cent EPS.
Liberty Energy also announced a 13% dividend hike, underscoring confidence in its operational efficiency and growth prospects, boosted by strategic AI platform integration.
Hologic saw a 5.4% premarket increase, driven by news of advanced negotiations with Blackstone and TPG for an acquisition deal.
This follows the company’s recent annual revenue growth and a solid net income rise, helping to regain some momentum despite a down year overall.
These premarket movements reflect market optimism tied to earnings announcements, strategic expansions, and potential buyout talks among key players across steel, energy, and healthcare sectors.
Policy moves on thin data
The Federal Reserve is almost certain to cut interest rates by another 25 basis points at its meeting on October 28–29.
This would be the second cut in a row, following one in September.
The move signals that the Fed is getting increasingly worried about the job market cooling off, even though inflation is still sitting a bit above its 2% target.
The decision is especially tricky this time because the government shutdown has delayed important economic data, like the monthly jobs report and inflation numbers.
Normally, those reports help the Fed understand what’s happening beneath the surface, things like which groups of workers are getting hit hardest, but that information isn’t available right now.
Private data, like credit card spending, gives some clues, but it’s not detailed enough for policymaking. As Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin put it, the specificity of government data really matters.
Markets are basically unanimous: traders are pricing in a 97–99% chance that the Fed will deliver the rate cut.
The goal is to give the economy a little more breathing room as the labor market shows signs of weakening.
Still, the Fed keeps stressing that it’s taking things one meeting at a time and will stay guided by whatever data it can get.
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