Stock Futures Rise as Wall Street Prepares for Midterms, Jobs Data and Earnings
U.S. stock futures edged higher on Sunday evening, providing a modest rebound after a difficult week on Wall Street that was dragged down by mounting scrutiny over artificial intelligence spending. S&P 500 futures rose 0.3%, while Nasdaq-100 futures gained 0.4%. Contracts linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 116 points, or 0.2%, following earlier evening openings that showed similar modest gains.
The cautious optimism comes as investors steel themselves for an exceptionally busy economic and political calendar. The upcoming days will bring crucial October employment data, a fresh wave of corporate earnings reports, and the U.S. midterm elections on Tuesday. Democrats are widely expected to capture control of the House of Representatives, whereas the balance of power in the Senate remains uncertain.
Ahead of the vote, market strategists note that political shifts rarely dictate long-term market trajectories. Midterm elections have some investors worried that changes in Washington, D.C., could impact the markets, but stocks tend to stay steady regardless of which party gains control of Congress, according to Mike Dickson, head of research and quantitative strategies at Horizon.
Dickson pointed out that investors are finding return potential outside the tech sector, helping cushion broader market sentiment. Last week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average managed a gain of nearly 2% as market participants rotated into defensive sectors such as healthcare, even as the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite dropped 2% and logged its worst monthly losses since March 2025. The S&P 500 and the Dow each dipped less than 1% over the course of the week.
Selling pressure in technology shares was renewed late last week following lighter-than-expected capital expenditure forecasts from Alphabet and Microsoft, alongside Amazon maintaining its full-year capex guidance. These signals stoked investor anxiety that corporate spending on AI infrastructure might be slowing down, though the month initially saw a boost when Anthropic publicly filed for an initial public offering.
Despite the volatility, some market watchers remain bullish on the sector’s underlying health. Warren Pies of 3Fourteen Research argued that forward earnings estimates are ramping up and praised Anthropic’s public filing paperwork, noting that he sees nothing fundamentally broken with the AI trade, even if technical market patterns present a different challenge.
Corporate earnings reports this week will test that resilience further. Apple, a member of the influential “Magnificent Seven,” is scheduled to release its financial results after the closing bell on Monday, with additional reports from companies such as McDonald’s and Qualcomm slated later in the week.
On the macroeconomic front, attention centers squarely on the U.S. Department of Labor’s nonfarm payrolls report for October, scheduled for release on Friday. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones estimate that the economy added 55,000 jobs during the month.
Meanwhile, overseas markets faced downward pressure heading into the new trading week. Asia-Pacific equities were poised to open lower as investors monitored Middle East developments and the U.S. elections. Japan’s Nikkei 225 faced declines, with Chicago futures contracts trading at 62,720 and Osaka counterparts at 62,420, down from the index’s previous close of 63,290.11. Hong Kong Hang Seng index futures stood at 23,345 compared to a previous close of 23,294.42, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 opened 0.16% lower.
Commodity markets also saw downward movement on Sunday night. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures dropped more than 1% to $102.41 per barrel, and global benchmark Brent crude fell over 1% to $111.68 a barrel. The retreat follows a strong Friday session that added to crude oil’s more than 10% gains across the month of October.
