US stock futures stepped higher on Monday as a major Amazon (AMZN) cloud services outage gripped investors waiting for a packed week of high-profile earnings to kick off.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures (YM=F) edged up roughly 0.2%, while S&P 500 futures (ES=F) moved up 0.3%. Contracts on the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (NQ=F) gained about 0.4%, with stocks coming off weekly wins.
Wall Street was assessing the fallout from a major AWS outage early on Monday morning, whose ripple effect took platforms such as Robinhood (HOOD) offline. The cloud giant underpins services for a swathe of top companies, and users reported disruption at websites ranging from United Airlines (UAL) to Reddit (RDDT). AWS operations are now returning to normal, the Amazon unit said.
Markets are also setting aside a laundry list of worries to focus instead on earnings season, which shifts into high gear this week. Hopes are high, with reports from Tesla (TSLA), Intel (INTC), Netflix (NFLX), and Coca-Cola (KO) leading the highlights in a busy roster.
A lull on the trade war front also provided solace. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said relations with Beijing have “de-escalated” and said US-China talks are set to resume this week in Malaysia.
On Sunday, President Trump listed the top issues for the US — rare earths, fentanyl, and soybeans — in a sign the White House is continuing to soften its stance. That raised optimism that Trump’s promised 100% additional tariff on Chinese imports set for Nov. 1 may not come to pass.
Meanwhile, the US government shutdown has entered its third week, with Democrats and Republicans still at odds over federal healthcare subsidies. Economists warn that a prolonged standoff could dent near-term GDP growth, though most see any slowdown as temporary.
The federal stoppage has slammed the brakes on crucial inflation and jobs data key to the Federal Reserve’s decision making. But the Bureau of Labor Statistics is set to release September’s Consumer Price Index on Friday, delayed from last week.
Analysts expect that inflation will remain stubbornly high. The data could prove pivotal for the Fed’s rate path, as policymakers enter a quiet period ahead of their two-day meeting and rate decision next week.
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