From our US team:

US stocks climbed on Monday to kick off a pivotal week packed with Big Tech earnings, an inflation update, and a crucial monthly jobs report.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) jumped nearly 0.3%, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose by the same amount. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) moved up more than 250 points, or nearly 0.7%, leading the gains.

The moves came at the start of a hugely consequential week in markets, with five of the “Magnificent Seven” megacaps due to release earnings this week.

Investors are looking to Alphabet (GOOGL, GOOG), Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN), Microsoft (MSFT), and Meta (META) results to help boost the S&P 500 to new heights too. But questions remain as to whether Big Tech’s investments in AI are paying off in profits. The reports are the highlight in a very busy week of results, with 169 of the S&P 500’s members expected to release updates.