By Caroline Valetkevitch
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Global stock indexes rose on Monday as investors awaited earnings reports this week from several of the biggest U.S. tech-related companies, while oil prices fell sharply after Israel’s retaliatory strike against Iran at the weekend bypassed oil and nuclear facilities.
The Japanese yen fell to a three-month low against the dollar following an election in Japan thrust the country into political turmoil.
Against the yen, the dollar rose by as much as 1% to a high of 153.88, the yen’s weakest level since late July. The dollar was last up 0.68% at 153.34 yen.
U.S. earnings season is in full swing, with a long list of names due to report this week including five of the biggest U.S. companies: Google parent Alphabet, Microsoft, Facebook owner Meta Platforms, Apple and Amazon.com.
The week also brings the U.S. jobs report for October on Friday, while investors are keeping a close eye on political news with the U.S. presidential election just over a week away.
Employers are expected to have added 123,000 jobs during October, while the unemployment rate is likely to have stayed steady at 4.1%, according to economists polled by Reuters.,
The election for U.S. president is expected to be close. Vice President Kamala Harris, a Democrat, was leading Republican Donald Trump nationally by a marginal 46% to 43%, a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll showed. U.S. voters head to the polls on Nov. 5.
Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yields hit a three-month high ahead of this week’s data and the election. The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes was last up 5.2 basis points at 4.284% versus 4.232% late on Friday.
“It’s the calm before the storm,” said Subadra Rajappa, head of U.S. rates strategy at Societe Generale in New York. “A lot of investors are a little bit more cautious heading into the elections.”
Energy shares eased along with oil prices. The S&P 500 energy sector was down 0.8%., and U.S. crude oil futures fell $4.40, or 6.1%, to settle at $67.38 a barrel.
The three major U.S. stock indexes rose.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 296.60 points, or 0.70%, to 42,411.00, the S&P 500 rose 22.64 points, or 0.39%, to 5,830.76, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 85.99 points, or 0.46%, to 18,604.59.
Shares of Trump Media & Technology Group, parent company of Trump’s Truth Social platform, surged to their highest level since June on Monday, extending a recent rally.
MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe rose 3.06 points, or 0.36%, to 848.55. The STOXX 600 index rose 0.41%.
In Japan, Tokyo’s Nikkei closed up 1.8%, after initially dipping following the election result.
Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party lost its parliamentary majority. The party, with junior coalition partner Komeito, won 215 lower-house seats in Sunday’s election, public broadcaster NHK reported, well short of the 233 needed for a majority.
In other currencies, the dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, fell 0.07% to 104.31, while the euro was up 0.19% at $1.0813.
(Additional reporting by Amanda Cooper in London and Karen Brettell in New York; Editing by Christopher Cushing, Sonali Paul, Gareth Jones, Marguerita Choy and Leslie Adler)
