Stocks Extend Gains with Palantir Earnings on Deck; Kenvue stock rises on acquisition

Major stock indexes were mostly higher in early trading Monday at the start of another busy week with quarterly earnings reports and the release of key private sector employment data.

The S&P 500 rose 0.2% shortly after markets opened, while the Nasdaq Composite, which is dominated by technology stocks, rose 0.7%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2%. A strong earnings report from tech giant Amazon ( AMZN ) helped push major indexes into gains last Friday, capping a winning week and month for stocks.

It’s set to be another busy week with earnings, starting with software maker Palantir (PLTR), scheduled to report after the bell on Monday. Investors are hoping that huge investments in artificial intelligence will be a boon for sales at chipmakers Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Qualcomm (QCOM), both of which are scheduled to make announcements later in the week.

Investors typically get lively updates on the labor market this week, which has fallen more than most economists expected this year, but most economic data will continue to lag as the U.S. government shutdown continues into a second month. Instead, investors will have to make do with alternative sources, such as the monthly private sector jobs report issued by payroll provider ADP.

Investors are watching the labor market closely to gauge the likelihood that the Federal Reserve will follow up last week’s interest rate cut with another cut at its final meeting of the year in December. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell warned last week that another cut is “not a foregone conclusion,” but it remains the most likely outcome according to Wall Street.

Technology stocks got a boost Monday morning after Microsoft ( MSFT ) struck a $10 billion cloud computing deal with Australia-based neocloud company IREN ( IREN ), whose shares rose about 40%. Microsoft shares were recently up nearly 1%, while shares of Nvidia (NVDA), whose chips Microsoft will gain access to through the IREN deal, are up 3%. Amazon stock extended last week’s gains, rising 5%. Meta (META) and Tesla (TSLA) are both up about 1%, while Alphabet (GOOG) is down about 0.5% and Apple (AAPL) is down 1%.

In other corporate news, consumer products giant Kimberly-Clark (KMB) has agreed to buy Tylenol maker Kenvue (KVUE) in a deal valued at more than $40 billion. Kenvue shares rose 16%, while Kimberly-Clark shares fell about 12%. Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) shares fell after the group on Saturday reported a more than 30% increase in operating profit, driven by strong insurance underwriting results. The report was Berkshire’s last with legendary investor Warren Buffett as CEO.

The 10-year Treasury yield, which affects interest rates on all types of consumer loans, rose to 4.11% from 4.08% at Friday’s close. Gold futures rose 0.8% to $4,030 an ounce, while West Texas Intermediate crude futures, the US crude oil benchmark, were little changed at $61 a barrel.

Cryptocurrencies fell, with bitcoin trading at around $107,500, down from a high of more than $111,000 over the weekend. The US dollar index, which measures the value of the US currency against a basket of foreign currencies, rose 0.1% to 99.95, its highest level since late July.