Beat the street: Investors eye Fed speak; data; earnings; McDonald’s; Caterpillar

McDonald’s unveils its first quarterly sales miss in almost four years. Caterpillar benefits from a rebound in the US residential market and higher infrastructure spending.

(AI Video Summary)

Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Fed updates

In today's edition of "Beat the street" , Angeline Ong talks about the financial markets before Wall Street opens. She mentions that US stocks are feeling the pressure from increasing Treasury yields, and investors are eagerly anticipating more earnings and the timing of a US rate cut. McDonald's is not doing well because they are seeing low demand in the Middle East, China, and India. However, Caterpillar is doing great because of the growing housing market in the US and increased spending on infrastructure.

Ong gives an overview of the Dow Jones and the S&P 500, two important stock market indices. She says that both are expected to have a cautious start but have recently reached record highs. Then, Chris Vecchio in New York talks about the Fed's influence on different asset classes and the potential disconnect between stocks and other assets. Vecchio emphasises the importance of earnings from companies and speeches by Fed officials in the days to come.

Earnings season updates

She mentions that around 80% of companies in the S&P 500 have reported, and their estimated collective profits are up by 7.8% compared to last year. Ong points out that McDonald's has disappointed with weak first quarter sales, especially in international markets, while Caterpillar has performed well due to high demand in construction.

She also briefly talks about Novo Holdings' acquisition of Catalent, a drug maker, and provides updates on major tech companies like Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft, Meta Platforms, Apple, Tesla, and Facebook.

S&P 500 chart and oil updates

Next, Axel Rudolph analyses the S&P 500 chart and suggests that as long as the index stays above recent lows, there is a greater chance of further gains. Ong concludes the video by briefly mentioning oil prices and the cautious opening of US markets, which have seen four consecutive weeks of gains.