Wall Street is set to rally in early trading on Monday, with investors opting for optimism ahead of earnings announcements from several tech giants over the coming days.

Half an hour before the opening, futures contracts on the main New York indices were up by around 0.5%, suggesting a positive opening.

Technology stocks have lost momentum over the past month, but they could quickly pick up speed and once again widen the gap with other sectors, as has been the case for several years.

With a gain of 3% since the start of the year, the S&P high-tech sector index is currently behind energy and financial stocks, which have climbed by 13% and 7% respectively over the period.

The arrival of the earnings season, with publications from titans Meta, Microsoft and Alphabet, could however bring back investors, who have been worried in recent weeks about the high level of valuations against a backdrop of rising bond yields.

According to FactSet, the technology sector should post earnings growth of 12.3% in the first quarter, well ahead of the S&P 500 as a whole (+0.5%).

Given the weight of the technology sector, and in particular the 'Magnificent Seven', which now account for 28% of the S&P 500's market capitalization, its growth is essential to Wall Street's progress.

While the tech sector has recently taken a breather, analysts believe it should benefit from massive investment in AI and the cloud, leading them to see the 'techs' back in favor soon.

Beyond earnings, investors will continue to keep an eye on inflation with the release, on Friday, of the PCE index in the US, the Fed's preferred indicator of price dynamics.

Before that, the publication - on Thursday - of the first US gross domestic product (GDP) figures for the first quarter will be closely watched.

The consensus forecast calls for a slight slowdown in growth, to 2.9%, following the 3.4% recorded in the fourth quarter.

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