The New York Stock Exchange is set to continue its upward trend on Monday, as the earnings season gears up for a week of record-breaking results.

Half an hour before the opening, futures on the main New York indices were up between 0.3% and 0.5%, pointing to a green start to the week.

With their 11th week of gains out of 12, the US equity markets all set new all-time highs last week.

Investors will now turn their attention to the many corporate results scheduled for the week, hoping for pleasant surprises from technology stocks in particular.

Investors will be keeping a close eye on the results of the big names in high-tech to find out whether Wall Street still has room for improvement in the short term.

The spotlight will undoubtedly be on 'tech' with publications from Netflix, Texas Instruments, IBM and Intel expected in the coming days.

The technology sector remains by far the best performer of the S&P's 10 major sector indices since the start of the year, with gains already reaching 5% since January 1.

'Even so, much of the good news seems to be priced in at present, with the S&P 500 trading at nearly 20 times in terms of price-earnings ratio (P/E)', say analysts at UBS.

In the event of a weaker-than-expected performance, US markets could slip back from their recent all-time highs, but investors have recently tended to strengthen following bouts of market weakness.

Several indicators released over the course of the week will also provide updates on consumer spending, inflation and the labor market.

The first estimate of US growth in the fourth quarter, due on Thursday, will be particularly closely watched.

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