CNBC Daily Open: Nasdaq hits high even as poor earnings growth disappoints investors

This report is from today’s CNBC Daily Open, our international markets newsletter. CNBC Daily Open brings investors up to speed on everything they need to know, no matter where they are. Like what you see? You can subscribe here.

New high for Nasdaq
On Friday, the Nasdaq Composite hit an all-time high, but the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average fell and snapped their six-week winning streaks. Europe’s regional Stoxx 600 index dipped 0.03% to end last week 1% lower. Earnings season for European companies has been mixed so far.

Japan’s ruling coalition loses parliamentary majority
Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party and its Komeito partner will lose their parliamentary majority, according to projections from public broadcaster NHK and publication Nikkei Asia, while the opposition camp made significant gains. The Japanese yen fell against the U.S. dollar on the political uncertainty.

Tesla erases 2024’s losses
Tesla shares rose 3.4% on Friday, following its furious rally the day before when it shot up 22%. After those two days of gains, the stock has regained all its losses for the year and is trading 8.4% higher for 2024. However, that still lags the Nasdaq’s 23% increase.

Waymo raises $5.6 billion
Waymo, the Alphabet-owned autonomous vehicle venture, has raised $5.6 billion in its recent funding round. The funds would go toward expanding Waymo Driver, its robotaxi service, in current and new locations. With this round, Waymo has raised more than $11 billion in total capital.

[PRO] Very, very busy week for markets
This week is jam-packed with important earnings and economic data. Five of the Magnificent Seven companies report earnings. The personal consumption expenditures index report for September and the key jobs report for October will also be released this week.

The Nasdaq Composite managed to log a seventh consecutive winning week.

After adding 0.56% on Friday, the index closed at an all-time high, ending the week 0.2% higher.

Other major U.S. indexes, however, didn’t do so well. Both the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average shattered their six-week positive streak following their falls on Friday.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq was boosted by Tesla’s monster rally. Investors also looked ahead to Big Tech earnings coming out this week: shares of Meta, Amazon and Microsoft added as much as 1%.

Earnings season has been a mixed bag so far. Even though almost three-quarters of S&P companies have beaten expectations, according to FactSet data, the rate of profit growth has not met expectations, disappointing investors.

More than half of the 20-largest companies saw their stocks fall after they announced their financials last week, notes CNBC’s Pia Singh.

As those companies were mostly from sectors outside tech, their losses dragged down the S&P and the Dow, especially, since a good proportion were constituents of the 30-stock index. In fact, around 90% of Dow members ended the week in the red.

For instance, Coca-Cola surpassed Wall Street’s estimates of its earnings and revenue, but its shares still fell. Investors were perhaps disappointed by news that consumers are buying fewer packs of Coke products, as CEO James Quincey said during the post-earnings conference call, and troubled by the headwinds that the company thinks will hamper its growth in 2025.

With five of the Magnificent Seven companies reporting earnings and crucial economic data coming out this week, investors will hope all the numbers line up for a payout – if not of the jackpot magnitude, then at least one that jolts the S&P and Dow back into the green again.

— CNBC’s Brian Evans, Pia Singh and Alex Harring contributed to this report.