Wall Street open higher ahead of Big Tech earnings and key economic reports

US markets opened modestly higher Monday morning as investors entered a busy week filled with major corporate earnings and crucial economic indicators. Despite lingering concerns over global trade and macroeconomic uncertainty, early gains suggested a cautiously optimistic tone on Wall Street .

As of 9:31 a.m. GMT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) climbed 210.46 points, or 0.52%, to 40,323.96. The S&P 500 added 16.44 points, up 0.3%, to trade at 5,541.65. The tech-heavy Nasdaq inched higher by 18.04 points, or 0.1%, to 17,400.98.

The market's modest rally was supported in part by higher gold prices, with the precious metal gaining $12.90, or 0.39%, to $3,311.30 — a sign that investors continued to seek safety amid uncertainty over interest rates and global trade negotiations. Oil prices edged slightly lower, with US crude slipping 7 cents to $62.95 per barrel, down 0.11%.

Bond yields ticked up, with the US 10-year Treasury yield rising 1.6 basis points to 4.282%, reflecting cautious optimism about the economic outlook. Meanwhile, the euro weakened slightly against the US dollar, with the EUR/USD exchange rate dipping 0.053% to 1.136.

Volatility remained elevated, as the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), often referred to as Wall Street’s “fear gauge,” rose 0.6% to 24.99.

Meanwhile, Futures for the S&P 500 dropped 0.2% on Monday, while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average ticked down 0.1%. Nasdaq futures also fell 0.2%.

Domino's Pizza slipped 1.5% in premarket trading after its quarterly revenue came in slightly below Wall Street's expectations. Wall Street was also caught off guard by a decline in US same-store sales. Domino's closed 25 stores abroad while opening 17 in the US

Domino's did not mention tariffs or trade policy, but corporations across multiple sectors had lowered or withdrawn their projections, citing the uncertainty created by Trump’s tariffs. Domino's referred to the current global macroeconomic environment as “challenging.”

Trump's on-again-off-again tariffs may have pushed households and businesses to alter their spending and freeze plans for long-term investment because of how quickly conditions could change, seemingly by the hour.

Despite a market rally last week, as talk of Trump firing Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell receded and hints emerged of a selective softening of his stance on tariffs, not much had changed, Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said.

“But let’s not kid ourselves: this wasn’t a clean pivot," Innes said. "It was hope and narrative management, plain and simple. What was really driving the bounce wasn’t hard policy action — it was the perception of de-escalation."

Trump had said he was on a path to cut several new trade deals in a few weeks, but had also suggested it was “physically impossible” to hold all the needed meetings.

The hope was that if Trump rolled back some of his stiff tariffs, he could avert a recession that many investors saw as otherwise likely because of his trade war.

Shares of Deliveroo, the food delivery service based in London, had hit three-year highs after it received a $3.6 billion takeover offer from DoorDash. Deliveroo announced the bid after markets closed in Europe on Friday. Deliveroo suspended a share buyback program on Monday due to the offer.

Other major companies reporting earnings this week included four of the “Magnificent Seven” tech giants: Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, and Apple. Starbucks, Coca-Cola, and McDonald's also issued their latest financial results this week.

The Conference Board released the results of its latest consumer confidence survey on Tuesday, while the US government served up reports throughout the week on consumer spending, inflation, gross domestic product, and the broader employment situation.

Elsewhere in Europe, Germany's DAX added 0.4%, the CAC 40 in Paris gained 0.6%, and Britain's FTSE 100 advanced 0.2%.

Shares in China slipped despite more efforts by Beijing to boost the economy, as the status of talks between Washington and Beijing remained unclear.

Trump had said he was actively negotiating with the Chinese government on tariffs, while the Chinese and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had stated that talks had yet to start.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng was nearly unchanged at 21,971.96, while the Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.2% to 3,288.41.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 picked up 0.4% to 35,839.99, and the Kospi in South Korea was nearly unchanged at 2,548.86.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 advanced 0.4%, closing at 7,997.10. Taiwan's Taiex gained 0.8%.

In energy trading, US benchmark crude oil lost 31 cents to $62.71 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Brent crude, the international standard, fell 30 cents to $65.50 per barrel.

In currencies, the US dollar declined to 143.45 Japanese yen from 143.60 yen. The euro fell to $1.1347 from $1.1366.