US stocks boosted by Goldman results; Powell’s speech, Trump aftermath in focus By Investing.com

Investing.com– U.S. stocks rose Monday as investors digested the attack on presidential candidate Donald Trump ahead of comments from Fed chief Jerome Powell and more corporate earnings. 

At 09:35 ET (13:35 GMT), the rose 205 points, or 0.5%, the climbed 25 points, or 0.5%, and the gained 125 points, or 0.7%.

Wall Street rises following Trump assassination attempt

The main indices on Wall Street rose Monday following the disturbing events over the weekend, when former President, and leading Republican president candidate, Donald Trump, was targeted in an attempted assassination attempt during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The assailant shot at Trump multiple times, grazing his ear.  

Early responses to the attack seemed to suggest that his chances of winning the 2024 presidential race were improved, which could result in a more hawkish trade policy and looser regulation over issues from climate change to cryptocurrency.

Trump is now set to speak at the 2024 Republican convention in Milwaukee, where he is expected to be officially nominated as the party’s frontrunner for the presidential race. 

The conference, which begins later this week, is set to be Trump’s first public appearance after the shooting.

Wall Street at record highs amid rate cut optimism 

These gained followed a record end to last week, as expectations grew that the Federal Reserve would start cutting interest rates in September.

The climbed above 40,000 points on Friday for the first time ever, outpacing its peers as the prospect of lower rates saw traders pivot into more economically sensitive stocks. 

Both the and the rose 0.6%, with both indexes remaining in sight of recent peaks. 

Traders were seen pricing in a 90.3% chance the Fed will cut rates by 25 basis points in September, up from a 72.2% chance seen last week, according to .

Goldman sees doubling of Q2 profit 

The second quarter earnings season picks up pace this week, starting Monday with numbers from investment bank Goldman Sachs (NYSE:).

Goldman stock soared 1.5% after it reported a more than doubling of profit in the second quarter, bolstered by higher fees from debt underwriting and a strong performance in its fixed-income trading business.

BlackRock (NYSE:) reported that the assets it manages hit a record $10.65 trillion in the second quarter thanks to rising client asset values and as investors pumped money into the company’s ETFs.

Bank of America (NYSE:) and Morgan Stanley (NYSE:) are set to report on Tuesday, while chipmaking major ASML (AS:) is due on Wednesday and tech giant Netflix (NASDAQ:) on Thursday. 

Crude slips after weak Chinese growth 

Crude prices dipped slightly Monday, with weak Chinese data raising doubts about growth in this important economy.

By 09:35 ET, the U.S. crude futures (WTI) dropped 0.3% to $80.81 a barrel, while the Brent contract fell 0.3% to $84.80 a barrel.

The world’s second-largest economy registered its since the first quarter of 2023,

Additionally, China’s imports fell 2.3% in the first half of this year to 11.05 million barrels a day, amid disappointing fuel demand.

This data indicates the country is facing increased economic headwinds, and this is likely to bode poorly for crude demand in this vitally important market.

That said, losses have been limited with political uncertainty in the U.S. and the Middle East supporting prices.

(Ambar Warrick contributed to this article.)