Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome Powell reacts as he holds a press conference following a two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee on interest rate policy in Washington, U.S., September 18, 2024.
- Stocks are off to a sluggish start for the month.
- The next earnings season kicks off this week, with PepsiCo, Delta Air Lines, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo.
- Activist investor Starboard Value has set its sights on Pfizer.
Here are five key things investors need to know to start the trading day:
1. Slow and steady
Stocks are off to a sluggish start for the month, as futures tied to the major indexes slipped Monday. S&P 500 futures fell 0.5%, Nasdaq-100 futures declined 0.6%, and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures shed 0.4%. An uptick in U.S. Treasury yields and higher oil prices were pressuring futures after only modest gains during the first few days of trading for the month last week. Follow live market updates.
2. Quarterly kickoff
Here come Q3 reports. The next earnings season kicks off this week, with PepsiCo, Delta Air Lines, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo set to issue quarterly updates. The banks should provide some insight into expectations for a lower-interest-rate environment now that the Federal Reserve has started cutting, while consumer names like Pepsi and Delta will shed light on Americans' spending habits heading into the final few months of the year. Here's when each report is due out:
- Tuesday: PepsiCo (before the bell)
- Thursday: Delta Air Lines (before the bell)
- Friday: JPMorgan Chase (before the bell), Wells Fargo (before the bell)
3. Prepare for landing
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Money Report
Pack away your parachutes, it seems the Fed may be pulling off the elusive soft landing. Jobs data on Friday blew Wall Street expectations out of the water, with the labor market adding 254,000 jobs — more than 100,000 above consensus. Those outsized gains pull the U.S. economy out of the shadows of recession, CNBC economics editor Jeff Cox reports. "We've been expecting a soft landing. This just gives us more confidence that it seems to remain in place," said Beth Ann Bovino, chief economist at U.S. Bank. "It also increases the possibility of a no-landing as well, meaning even stronger economic data for 2025 than we currently expect."
4. Dose of activism
Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has an activist investor in its waiting room. Starboard Value has amassed a roughly $1 billion stake in the company and is seeking to mount a turnaround, CNBC's Rohan Goswami reports. The activist believes Pfizer's current leadership, helmed by CEO Albert Bourla, has deviated from what was historically disciplined cost structure and investment in novel drugs, according to people familiar with the matter. Starboard's exact plans couldn't be learned. Pfizer has been attempting a rebound of its own after its revenue and stock price declined alongside sales of its Covid vaccine after pandemic-era demand waned.
5. No joke
"Joker: Folie a Deux," the second installment of the blockbuster franchise, put up a disappointing debut weekend at the box office. The film tallied just $40 million during its opening weekend, less than half the opening of its predecessor, "Joker," in 2019. Adding insult to injury, the sequel's budget was more than three times that of the original. "The creative risk that 'Joker: Folie a Deux' took is commendable, but very tough critical reviews as well as a mixed moviegoer reaction made for a challenging marketplace environment," said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore. The recent string of sequels at the box office is set to continue next year: More than half of the films scheduled for 2025 release from Hollywood's major studios are based on existing IP as filmmakers bank on built-in audiences to drive ticket sales.
– CNBC's Lisa Kailai Han, Jesse Pound, Jeff Cox, Rohan Goswami and Sarah Whitten contributed to this report.
