US open: Stocks mostly higher after last week's sell-off

(Sharecast News) - US stocks were trading broadly higher on Monday morning, bouncing back after a tech-induced sell-off last week, as investors awaited earnings from Nvidia and a delayed labour-market report over the coming days.

The S&P 500 was up 0.3% following a 1.1% decline over the past five days, while the Nasdaq was up 0.6% after the index dropped 2.4% last week. The Dow, however, opened flat after moving sideways last week.

Morgan Stanley said in a research note that it now expects the S&P 500 to hit 7,800 by December 2026, which is around 16% upside from current levels.

"Investors and traders did what they have been doing since October 2022, hoovering up equities on any sell-off," said David Morrison, senior market analyst at Trade Nation. "We'll see if that's still the case after Nvidia reports after Wednesday's close. With Walmart and Home Depot also reporting, markets will also receive a clearer read on the strength of the US consumer."

Nvidia shares were trading lower ahead of the semiconductor giant's third-quarter earnings due, as the company enters earnings season with sentiment under pressure amid ongoing concerns about stretched valuations and a bubble in the AI and chip sectors.

Attention will also turn to company guidance for the fourth quarter and the outlook for 2026, with Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang having recently flagged $500bn of orders.

Walmart was trading higher ahead of its own earnings on Thursday, while Home Depot was in the red ahead of Tuesday's update.

In other equity news, American pharma and medical giant Johnson & Johnson was in demand after the $3.05bn acquisition of clinical-stage biotech company Halda Therapeutics in hopes that the company can revolutionise the treatment of cancer.

Markets will finally get to see some key US economic data this week - following the data blackout caused by the government shutdown since early October - with the release of September's jobs report on Thursday. October's figures, however, are unlikely to ever be published due to insufficient data-gathering during the shutdown, the White House confirmed last week.

"Early estimates put the payrolls figure around 50k, rising from the August reading of 22k. From a market perspective, there is likely to be a 'bad news is good news' reaction, as traders hope to see the Fed shift onto a more proactive mindset once again," said Joshua Mahony, chief market analyst at Scope Markets.

In other news, the Empire State manufacturing survey's general business conditions index rose eight points to 18.7. This was the fourth positive reading over the past five months and the highest reading since November 2024, surpassing the consensus forecast of a drop to 6.0.