US Stock market on Columbus day predictions: S&P 500, Dow Jones, Nasdaq, Russell 2000 investors eye tricky Monday on Indigenous Peoples' Day. Nvidia, Apple, Micron, AMD, Tesla other stocks to watch out today

US Stock market is set to open on a mixed note on Columbus day as Wall St futures were by and large muted on Monday. S&P 500 futures were up slightly at 7,864.50, Dow Jones futures rose marginally at 51,948. However, Nasdaq futures were down in the pre-market trading at 31,072. Russell 2000 futures fell too at 2,821. While stock markets were open on Columbus Day or Indigenous Peoples' Day, the US bond market will not be operational on October 12.

Wall Street investors monitored oil prices and geopolitical developments ahead of key bank earnings and inflation data due this week that could influence the US Federal Reserve's interest-rate path.

Oil Prices, US Dollar Rate


Oil prices swung between gains and losses after President Donald Trump said Ukraine and Russia had agreed to halt attacks on each other's energy facilities following a US diesel-supply deal with Moscow. Details of the agreement were not clear, however, and the plan faces opposition in Washington. In other dealings early Monday, the U.S. dollar rose to 158.43 Japanese yen from 158.23 yen. The euro was unchanged at $1.1191.

The Middle East conflict also kept Brent crude above $100 a barrel after deadly strikes on Riyadh's international airport over the weekend.

"Any hope that Trump's deal with Putin might help bring down prices has been negated by the flare-up in the Houthi conflict," said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG.

"While earnings season will be a key driver this week, investors should expect oil news to keep making headlines, weighing heavily on sentiment."

Key Stocks to Focus

Earnings season begins on Tuesday, with major US banks including Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase scheduled to report first.

S&P 500 earnings are expected to jump 30.6 per cent in the third quarter, according to LSEG IBES data. All three major indexes -- S&P 500, Dow Jones, Russell 2000 -- ended higher last week on optimism around an AI-driven third-quarter earnings season and hope that the Fed may avoid near-term rate hikes offsetting sharp swings in oil and Treasury markets.

AI chipmaker Nvidia, the world's most valuable company, has contributed almost 2 per cent to the benchmark's gain this year, followed by contributions of over 1 per cent each from Apple , Micron and Advanced Micro Devices. Tesla's 15 per cent dip this year has subtracted about 0.3 per cent from the S&P 500's rally.

US Bond Market

The US Treasury market is closed for Columbus Day. Treasury yields climbed to 24-year highs earlier this month as elevated energy prices stoked concerns inflation could remain sticky, potentially keeping policymakers hawkish and pressuring equity valuations.

Investors will also be watching this week's US consumer and producer price data as well as retail sales figures. Higher energy prices are expected to push headline CPI up 0.6 per cent on the month and 3.7 per cent annually, while core inflation is seen rising at a more modest 0.2 per cent monthly and 2.5 per cent annually.

Markets are pricing in just a 19 per cent chance the central bank will raise interest rates this month, according to CME's FedWatch tool. In premarket movers, IREN's shares jumped 5.4 per cent after The Information reported Anthropic had entered into a multi-year cloud deal with the data-center firm.