China's Politburo meeting this week could see more stimulus announced, though investors have so far been underwhelmed by Beijing's actions.S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures were little changed ahead of a wave of earnings this week.
A who's who of major companies are reporting including Alphabet, Meta, Intel, Microsoft, GE, AT&T, Boeing, Exxon Mobil, McDonald's, Coca Cola, Ford and GM. The results will have to be good to justify the S&P 500's earning multiple of 20 and its gains of 19% year-to-date. "We believe recent valuation expansion despite higher rates is reasonable considering the longer-term relationship between rates and equities, the improvement in expected growth, and the high market concentration in stocks benefiting from AI optimism," wrote analysts at Goldman Sachs.
"While our baseline forecast assumes a slight contraction in the S&P 500 P/E multiple to 19x by year-end, we believe risks to valuations are tilted to the upside if the multiples of laggards 'catch up' or yields fall."The dollar held firm at 141.75 yen , having jumped 1.3% on Friday following the report on the BOJ. The gains lifted the dollar across the board and left the euro at $1.1128 and off its recent top of $1.1276.