Nasdaq closes higher ahead of heavy earnings week

STORY: U.S. stocks ended mixed on Friday as investors awaited quarterly results from some of the world's most valuable companies next week.The Dow shed six-tenths of a percent, the S&P 500 ended flat and the Nasdaq added half a percent.Equities have been unsettled this week by a rapid rise in bond yields as bets on rate cuts by the Federal Reserve unraveled on expectations of a stronger economic outlook.But Tom Hainlin, national investment strategist at US Bank Asset Management Group, said a mostly robust earnings season should help power stocks into 2025.“This is a big week and next week as well in terms of earnings reports from companies for third quarter. Not just the results, but their estimates for what they see for the rest of the year and 2025. And so far, we've seen companies come in about as estimated or perhaps a little ahead. We've seen the S&P 500 set new all-time highs last week. A little off this week, just a little bit. But again, we're still at very high levels for S&P 500. It's been a great year for investors and we still have a glass half full view for the, for the remainder of 2024 and 2025 looking forward."Among Friday's movers, Tesla shares rose more than 3% a day after surging 22% on the electric vehicle maker's sales forecast. Shares of Apple, Alphabet and Microsoft also gained ahead of the release of their highly anticipated earnings reports next week.Shares of Capri Holdings slumped nearly 49% after a U.S. judge blocked a pending merger between the fashion holding company and handbag maker Tapestry. Shares of Tapestry rose 13.5%.And shares of McDonald's dropped 3% as it copes with an E. coli outbreak linked to its hamburgers.Next week - the final stretch before the presidential election - is crucial for Wall Street, with the latest inflation data on tap as well as a key October nonfarm payrolls report.

STORY: U.S. stocks ended mixed on Friday as investors awaited quarterly results from some of the world's most valuable companies next week.

The Dow shed six-tenths of a percent, the S&P 500 ended flat and the Nasdaq added half a percent. Equities have been unsettled this week by a rapid rise in bond yields as bets on rate cuts by the Federal Reserve unraveled on expectations of a stronger economic outlook. But Tom Hainlin, national investment strategist at US Bank Asset Management Group, said a mostly robust earnings season should help power stocks into 2025.

“This is a big week and next week as well in terms of earnings reports from companies for third quarter. Not just the results, but their estimates for what they see for the rest of the year and 2025. And so far, we've seen companies come in about as estimated or perhaps a little ahead.

We've seen the S&P 500 set new all-time highs last week. A little off this week, just a little bit. But again, we're still at very high levels for S&P 500.

It's been a great year for investors and we still have a glass half full view for the, for the remainder of 2024 and 2025 looking forward." Among Friday's movers, Tesla shares rose more than 3% a day after surging 22% on the electric vehicle maker's sales forecast. Shares of Apple, Alphabet and Microsoft also gained ahead of the release of their highly anticipated earnings reports next week.

Shares of Capri Holdings slumped nearly 49% after a U.S. judge blocked a pending merger between the fashion holding company and handbag maker Tapestry.

Shares of Tapestry rose 13.5%. And shares of McDonald's dropped 3% as it copes with an E.

coli outbreak linked to its hamburgers. Next week - the final stretch before the presidential election - is crucial for Wall Street, with the latest inflation data on tap as well as a key October nonfarm payrolls report..