U.S. stocks trade quietly as Columbus Day limits market activity

what happened

U.S. stock indexes opened Monday with little direction as the Columbus Day holiday kept trading subdued, Reuters reported. The S&P 500 was essentially flat, the Dow Jones edged higher and the technology-heavy Nasdaq slipped into negative territory. The U.S. bond market was closed, leaving investors with few immediate catalysts.

Oil was the main exception: front-month WTI and Brent futures each gained more than 2%. Continued attacks on Saudi Arabia by Iran-backed Houthis outweighed U.S. President Donald Trump’s announced diesel agreement with Russia and an alleged Russia-Ukraine energy ceasefire. Energy shares advanced with crude, while banks (.SPXBK) also moved higher. Chipmakers weakened, weighing on technology stocks, and gold and silver miners (.XAU) and airlines (.SPCOMAIR) underperformed.

The third-quarter earnings season accelerates Tuesday, when Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase are due to report. Bank of America and Morgan Stanley follow on Wednesday. The week’s economic calendar also features the Labor Department’s CPI and PPI, retail sales, existing home sales and industrial production.

why it matters

Investors are moving from a quiet holiday session toward a week packed with corporate results and inflation releases. The CPI and PPI will give the Federal Reserve additional data ahead of its monetary policy meeting later this month, while oil-related supply pressures remain linked to inflation and expectations for Fed policy.

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