Stocks Close In on Record as Tech Leads Charge: Markets Wrap
(Bloomberg) — US stock futures are pressing toward a record high, with technology shares leading the advance as the earnings season moves into its busiest phase. Gold climbed for a seventh straight day.
Contracts on the S&P 500 rose 0.3% after the benchmark closed less than half a percentage point shy of an all-time high. Nasdaq 100 futures advanced 0.7%. Micron Technology Inc. jumped 5% in premarket trading on plans to expand its memory-chip capacity. The yen fluctuated as jitters over intervention lingered, while the dollar extended its decline.
Stocks are rebounding from a bout of volatility driven by an increasingly noisy geopolitical backdrop and a resurgence in trade threats. Investors are now looking to earnings to support a three-year bull run that has broadened in recent months, after big tech drove much of the earlier gains.
Boeing Co. and LVMH are among the companies due to report Tuesday, ahead of results from four Magnificent Seven heavyweights later in the week. Attention will also shift to the Federal Reserve’s policy decision on Wednesday.
“In the US, while very elevated valuations and the dollar weakness make us more cautious than in Europe, there’s possibly still one or two interest-rate cuts lined up for this year,” Laurent Chaudeurge, an investment committee member at BDL Capital Management in Paris. “Investors are still chasing the AI trade, and at the moment this is done through semiconductors.”
Treasuries were little changed ahead of a $70 billion auction of five-year notes. Precious metals rallied again after gold and silver erased much of their advance in the previous session, with bullion trading near $5,080 an ounce.
“Gold prices could potentially exceed $7,000 by the end of the year,” said Frederique Carrier, head of investment strategy for RBC Wealth Management in the British Isles and Asia. “The main drivers that were there last year — trade tensions, geopolitical instabilities — are still very much there.”
Shares of major insurers including UnitedHealth Group Inc., CVS Health Corp. and Humana Inc. sank in premarket trading after the US proposed holding payments to private Medicare plans flat next year. The slump extended after UnitedHealth forecast its first annual revenue drop in three decades.
In Europe, the Stoxx 600 was led higher by a surge of as much as 21% in Puma SE after the Pinault family sold a stake in the sportswear maker. MSCI’s regional gauge for Asia climbed to a record as South Korean chipmakers outperformed, shrugging off concerns over President Donald Trump’s threat of higher US import tariffs.
Risk Appetite
Investor appetite for risk is the highest in five years as confidence in the economy outweighs geopolitical uncertainty, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. strategists.
The bank’s risk appetite indicator hit 1.09 last week, the highest since 2021. Most components of the index point to a constructive stance toward risk, reinforcing the theme of broadening equity market gains.
“Despite valuations being stretched, in particular in the US, I think investors are going into earnings season with quite high expectations,” said Louise Dudley, portfolio manager at Federated Hermes. “Companies that do fall short are likely to be punished fairly severely, kind of double-digit moves, even if it is not that bad.”
What Bloomberg Strategists Say:
“Geopolitical shocks are very hard to price, but if the first month of 2026 has shown anything, it is that they are abundant. At the same time, it’s difficult to reduce exposure to risk assets, with fiscal and monetary easing still in the pipeline, feeding into already resilient growth.
“Against that backdrop, investors are understandably searching for an ‘everything hedge.’”
— Skylar Montgomery Koning, macro strategist. For full analysis, click here.
Corporate Highlights:
UnitedHealth Group Inc. forecast a decline in 2026 revenue, the first annual contraction in more than three decades, as the company works to rebuild confidence with investors after a stunning fall last year. JetBlue Airways Corp. reported a wider loss than expected last quarter, highlighting challenges in its strategy to win over higher-paying customers. General Motors Co. expects profits to grow as much as $2 billion this year and plans to return more of that to shareholders with a higher dividend and buybacks, fueled by demand for its highest margin vehicles. United Parcel Service Inc. forecast full-year sales above Wall Street’s expectations as it forges ahead with plans to cut less-profitable package volume out of its network. China’s Anta Sports Products Ltd. has agreed to buy a stake of about 29% in Puma SE for €1.5 billion ($1.8 billion), becoming the biggest shareholder in the German company and expanding its portfolio of Western athletic brands. Breitling AG’s chief executive officer expects the US to cut tariffs on Swiss watches, underscoring his bullishness on the private equity-backed firm’s biggest market even as Washington keeps the industry guessing. Micron Technology Inc. will inject an additional $24 billion in Singapore over the next decade to expand its manufacturing capabilities amid an AI-induced memory chip shortage. FAT Brands Inc., the owner of restaurant chains Fatburger, Johnny Rockets and Twin Peaks, filed for bankruptcy. Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
S&P 500 futures rose 0.3% as of 7:12 a.m. New York time Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.7% Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3% The Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.4% The MSCI World Index rose 0.1% Currencies
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.2% The euro rose 0.2% to $1.1905 The British pound rose 0.3% to $1.3719 The Japanese yen rose 0.4% to 153.58 per dollar Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin was little changed at $87,926.73 Ether fell 0.4% to $2,915.68 Bonds
The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced one basis point to 4.22% Germany’s 10-year yield advanced one basis point to 2.88% Britain’s 10-year yield advanced one basis point to 4.51% Commodities
West Texas Intermediate crude was little changed Spot gold rose 1.4% to $5,079.65 an ounce This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Julien Ponthus, Subrat Patnaik and Rose Henderson.
©2026 Bloomberg L.P.
