US Stock Futures Rise Ahead of Midterms, Apple Earnings

U.S. stock futures moved higher on Sunday night, giving Wall Street a steadier start to a week packed with market-moving events: Tuesday’s midterm elections, Apple’s earnings after Monday’s closing bell, and Friday’s October jobs report. The overnight bounce followed a losing week for the major indexes, led by a sharp sell-off in technology shares tied to worries about artificial intelligence spending.

Just after 6 p.m. Eastern on Sunday, S&P 500 futures were up about 0.2% to 0.3%, Nasdaq-100 futures were up 0.3% to 0.4%, and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were up about 0.2%, adding roughly 103 to 116 points, according to CNBC’s Sunday-evening market coverage, reported by Barron’s and TradingView. By early Monday trading in Asia, S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures were up at least 0.4%, Bloomberg reported, pointing to a possible recovery when U.S. cash markets reopen.

Futures are not a guarantee of how Monday will end. They trade before the regular session and can reverse before the 9:30 a.m. Eastern opening bell. But after a bruising end to October, even a modest overnight gain was enough to shift the tone heading into one of the busiest weeks of the year.

A losing week, led by technology

Wall Street closed last week lower across the board. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.9% for the week to 51,770.31, snapping a three-week winning streak, according to Dow Jones Market Data cited by Barron’s. The S&P 500 fell 0.6% to 7,580.07, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 2% to 25,437.00.

Friday was the worst of it. The Nasdaq-100 tumbled 3.5%, its worst day since June, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index plunged 7.2%, Bloomberg reported. Intel suffered its steepest one-day fall in more than four decades after its guidance disappointed investors, and selling spread through chip and AI-linked names.

The pullback capped a difficult October for technology. The Nasdaq lost almost 7% for the month, its worst month since the tariff-driven sell-off of April 2025, according to Reuters market coverage. Investors have grown more selective about the enormous capital spending plans of the biggest technology companies, asking when the AI build-out will turn into profit rather than simply absorbing cash.

That debate was sharpened by recent earnings. Alphabet and Microsoft both posted lower-than-expected capital expenditure forecasts, a sign to some traders that spending growth may be cooling. At the same time, strategists note the sell-off has been narrow: while the largest AI and chip stocks have shed trillions of dollars in market value since early October, much of the broader market has held up better, with nine of the S&P 500’s eleven sectors gaining 1% or more last week, according to market coverage of the week.

Midterms take centre stage on Tuesday

The biggest event on this week’s calendar is not an earnings report. Americans vote in the midterm elections on Tuesday, November 3, deciding control of the House of Representatives and the Senate for the final two years of President Donald Trump’s term.

Polls and betting markets point to Democratic gains. Barron’s reported that Wall Street strategist Steve Englander noted betting markets now put the chance of Democrats taking both chambers at 70% or greater. Democrats are widely expected to win the House, while control of the Senate, where Republicans hold a 53-47 majority, remains uncertain.

Early voting has already set a record. More than 54.3 million ballots had been cast through Sunday afternoon, according to the Election Lab at the University of Florida, cited by Barron’s — a sign of intense engagement ahead of Tuesday.

For markets, the election matters less as a partisan contest than as a question of gridlock. Englander wrote that markets may prefer divided government in the next Congress, a setup that would limit sweeping new legislation in either direction. Horizon head of research Mike Dickson made a similar point, noting that stocks have historically tended to stay steady regardless of which party controls Congress, even when elections themselves worry investors in the short term.

One risk traders are watching closely is what happens after the vote on foreign policy. Reports over the weekend said Trump favours giving diplomacy more time before deciding whether to resume strikes on Iran after the midterms, a signal that helped pull oil prices lower on Monday. Any change in that stance could quickly feed back into energy prices and broader risk appetite.

Apple earnings lead a heavy week of results

Apple reports quarterly results on Monday after the market closes, and it is the single most important earnings release of the week. The company finished Friday as the world’s most valuable listed company, with a market capitalisation of about $5.03 trillion, ahead of Nvidia at about $4.93 trillion, according to market reports. Apple shares are up roughly 27% this year, outperforming the S&P 500’s roughly 11% gain.

Analysts expect quarterly earnings per share of $2 on revenue of $113 billion, up from $1.85 a share a year earlier, Reuters reported. Investors will also look for any guidance on early sales of the iPhone 18, whose pre-orders began in mid-October. Apple has been something of an oasis in the recent tech sell-off, Reuters noted, because it does not spend billions of dollars building data centres in the way its rivals do, and its shares have climbed for four straight months.

Apple is not alone. Palantir also reports on Monday, while McDonald’s and Qualcomm are due later in the week, along with a string of other large companies. Goldman Sachs analysts expect capital spending by the biggest so-called hyperscalers to almost double to $800 billion this year and rise further to $1.2 trillion in 2027, Reuters reported — a reminder of just how much is riding on whether AI investment pays off.

Morgan Stanley strategist Mike Wilson told Bloomberg that while election uncertainty, AI stress and liquidity concerns could pull the S&P 500 down toward 7,100, he would still expect the index to recover toward 8,000 once that stress clears, and he remains bullish, CNBC-TV18 reported.

Jobs report closes the week on Friday

Friday brings the October nonfarm payrolls report, the week’s most important economic release. Economists polled by Dow Jones expect the report to show 55,000 jobs added in October. The Labor Department’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey is due Tuesday and ADP’s private-sector employment report is due Wednesday, giving traders earlier reads on the labour market.

The jobs data lands at a sensitive moment for interest-rate expectations. Reuters reported that futures still imply a 72% chance of a quarter-point Federal Reserve rate rise in December, but only about 55 basis points of total tightening priced in, down from more than 70 basis points a month ago. Yields on 10-year Treasuries nudged up to 4.941%, well below their October peak of 5.3645%, Reuters said.

A stronger-than-expected jobs report could revive bets on further tightening and pressure growth stocks. A weaker report could do the opposite, easing rate worries but raising questions about the economy. Either way, Friday’s number is likely to set the tone into the following week.

Oil falls, gold steadies, Bitcoin climbs

Beyond stocks, the weekend’s other big moves were in commodities and crypto. Brent crude fell about 1.5% to 2% in early Monday trading to around $111 a barrel, and West Texas Intermediate fell to around $102 a barrel, after reports that Trump wants to give diplomacy more time on Iran following the midterms, Bloomberg reported. That followed a 13.6% jump for Brent in October, its best month in six months, and fresh attacks on vessels around the Strait of Hormuz.

Gold climbed about 0.7% to 0.9% to around $3,900 to $3,910 an ounce on Monday, Bloomberg reported, recovering some ground after falling to its lowest close in more than a year on Friday as bets on higher-for-longer interest rates outweighed haven demand.

Bitcoin rose for a third straight day to around $78,000 to $78,477, Bloomberg reported, after sinking last week when Binance revealed a record $6.3 billion hack that rattled the crypto industry. Binance restored customer withdrawals in phases on Sunday, and recorded a net outflow of $3.6 billion in crypto assets after reopening, Bloomberg said. Ether rose about 1.5% to around $2,297.

In Asia on Monday, the picture was mixed. Benchmark indexes fell in Japan and Australia, while South Korea and Hong Kong rose, leaving the MSCI Asia Pacific Index down about 0.5%, Bloomberg reported. The sell-off eased as the session went on, with U.S. futures turning higher — a pattern traders will watch to see whether it carries into New York.

What to watch this week

Monday’s session will test whether Sunday night’s optimism survives contact with the regular market. Apple earnings after the close will be the first real verdict, followed by the election result on Tuesday night and the jobs report on Friday.

For long-term investors, the week is a reminder of how quickly the market’s story can change. A month ago, the debate was whether AI spending could keep powering stocks higher. Now it is whether that spending is sustainable, whether politics will constrain it, and whether the labour market can hold up while interest rates stay high.

Sunday night’s futures suggest traders are willing to give the market the benefit of the doubt — for now. The next five days will decide whether that patience was justified.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why did U.S. stock futures rise on Sunday night?
U.S. stock futures rose modestly on Sunday evening after a losing week, with the S&P 500 up about 0.2% to 0.3%, the Nasdaq-100 up 0.3% to 0.4% and the Dow up about 0.2%. Traders were positioning ahead of Tuesday’s midterm elections, Apple’s Monday earnings and Friday’s jobs report, rather than reacting to a single piece of news.

When are the 2026 midterm elections?
The midterm elections are on Tuesday, November 3, 2026. More than 54.3 million early votes had already been cast through Sunday afternoon, according to the Election Lab at the University of Florida.

When does Apple report earnings?
Apple reports quarterly results on Monday after the market closes. Analysts expect earnings per share of $2 on revenue of $113 billion, and investors will watch for guidance on early iPhone 18 sales.

When is the October jobs report released?
The October nonfarm payrolls report is due Friday. Economists polled by Dow Jones expect it to show 55,000 jobs added during the month.

What happened to oil and gold on Monday?
Brent crude fell to around $111 a barrel in early Monday trading after reports that President Donald Trump favours more diplomacy with Iran after the midterms. Gold recovered to around $3,900 an ounce after falling to its lowest close in more than a year on Friday.

Sources

Barron’s, “Stock Futures Rise With Tuesday’s Midterms Looming” — barrons.com
CNBC via TradingView, “U.S. Stock Futures Rise 0.2% Ahead of Earnings, Jobs Data and Midterm Elections” — tradingview.com
Bloomberg via Swissinfo, “Stock Selloff Eases in Asian Trade, Crude Falls: Markets Wrap” — swissinfo.ch
Reuters via Devdiscourse, “Global Markets: Shares Steady as Apple Earnings Near, Oil Eases” — devdiscourse.com