Traders work at the New York Stock Exchange on May 7, 2026.
New York Stock Exchange
Stock futures were little changed Monday evening after a winning session on Wall Street, with traders expecting a raft of corporate earnings as the Federal Reserve prepares to begin its two-day policy meeting.
Dow Jones Industrial Average Futures slipped 8 points, or less than 0.1%, while S&P 500 Futures Contracts were slightly lower. Nasdaq-100 Futures Contracts added 0.1%.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.7% while the Topix gained 0.4%. South Korea Kospi rose 3.8% and the small-cap, tech-focused Kosdaq gained 2.9%. The Australian reference S&P/ASX200 was down 0.32%.
Wall Street started the week on a good note. THE Dow rose 146.42 points, or 0.3%. THE S&P500 gained 0.7%, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.8% thanks to the outperformance of technology stocks. The artificial intelligence business saw a boom after Anthropic filed for an IPO on Nasdaq. This would mark another major tech IPO for 2026, following SpaceX’s blockbuster listing in June.
Tesla stocks rose more than 5%, while Nvidia rose 2%. Microsoft And Amazon also got up that day.
The gains come as the artificial intelligence sector faces pressure from investors worried that companies in the sector are borrowing too much money to finance their AI developments.
On Tuesday, traders will review a deluge of third-quarter earnings reports. Coca-Cola, Robinhood and Boeing are among the companies that will report their results. Tech giants Microsoft, Alphabet and Amazon are expected to release later this week.
The Fed is also expected to kick off its latest monetary policy meeting. Although the central bank is expected to keep rates unchanged, traders will be looking for clues as to whether another rate hike will occur before the end of the year.
“If, as expected, there is no change in rates, it will still be interesting to see what the outcome of the vote will be after the fluctuations of the last two meetings,” wrote Thomas Block, Washington policy strategist at Fundstrat. “While the Fed considers itself above partisan politics, it would be unlikely to change rates a week before a national election.”
On the economic front, traders will be watching durable orders, consumer confidence data and the new home sales report.
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