Republicans are favored to win a majority in the House of Representatives in the election, with the Senate rated as a toss-up by nonpartisan forecasters. Republicans could use a majority in either house to block Democratic President Joe Biden’s agenda. “The likelihood of Republicans taking the House or Senate is pretty high, so it guarantees some form of deadlock over the next couple of years. That would probably take tax increases off the table and any kind of big spending that’s potentially perceived as inflationary off the table,” said Ross Mayfield, investment strategist at Baird. Meta Platforms Inc ( META.O ) jumped more than 6% after a report that the company planned to begin large-scale layoffs this week. The stock is down more than 70% so far this year. Recently battered shares of Microsoft ( MSFT.O ) and Google parent Alphabet ( GOOGL.O ) each rallied more than 2 percent and contributed significantly to the S&P 500’s gain for the session. This week will also focus on US consumer price data for October, due on Thursday, for signs of how the Federal Reserve’s rapid rate hikes are helping to calm the economy. Four Fed policymakers said on Friday they would consider a smaller rate hike at their next policy meeting, despite new data showing another month of strong job gains and little sign of progress in reducing inflation. Traders are divided on whether the Fed will raise interest rates by 50 basis points or 75 basis points at the US central bank’s December meeting. “All else equal, whether the terminal rate is at 4.5%, 5% or more, monetary policy is poised to have a negative impact on the economy heading into 2023,” its investment strategists wrote in a note on Monday. Glenmede. [1/2] Traders work at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., November 7, 2022. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid Unofficially, the S&P 500 climbed 0.96% to end the session at 3,806.90. The Nasdaq rose 0.85 percent to 10,564.52, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.31 percent to 32,827.00. S&P 500 by market cap Of the S&P 500’s 11 sectoral indexes, eight advanced, led by Communications Services (.SPLRCL) which rose 1.83%, followed by a 1.73% gain in Energy (.SPNY). All three major U.S. indexes have fallen this year, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq (.IXIC) down 33% on concerns that aggressive monetary policy tightening could cripple the U.S. economy. Digital World Acquisition Corp ( DWAC.O ) surged 66 percent after former U.S. President Donald Trump hinted at another White House bid. The white-check firm has agreed to take social media startup Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. public. Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc ( WBA.O ) gained 4.1 percent after VillageMD, a primary care provider backed by the pharmacy chain, said it would acquire Summit Health in a deal valued at nearly $9 billion. Issuers outnumbered those in the S&P 500 (.AD.SPX) by a ratio of 2.8 to one. The S&P 500 hit 18 new highs and 15 new lows. the Nasdaq recorded 93 new highs and 221 new lows. Volume in US markets was relatively light, with 10.5 billion shares traded, compared with an average of 11.8 billion shares over the previous 20 sessions. Reporting by Shubham Batra and Amruta Khandekar in Bengaluru and by Noel Randewich in Oakland, California. Additional reporting by Shreyashi Sanyal and Devik Jain. Editing by Maju Samuel, Chizu Nomiyama and Deepa Babington Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
