U.S. equity futures jumped on Monday as investors looked for a batch of megacap technology earnings to keep driving the Nasdaq Composite to new heights this week. A cooling geopolitical situation also aided risk sentiment.

Weekend airstrikes by Israel against Iran did not target oil or nuclear facilities as was feared and oil futures were lower in early trading.

Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 102 points, or 0.2%. S&P 500 futures gained 0.4%, and Nasdaq 100 futures advanced 0.5%.

The market was split at the end of last week. On Friday, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite jumped to a new intraday all-time high. On the flip side, the Dow shed more than 200 points. The broad-market S&P 500 inched lower in the previous session.

Both the Dow and S&P snapped a six-week winning streak, but the Nasdaq eked out its seventh positive week in a row.

Wall Street is bracing for a big week in markets that will mark the busiest week of third-quarter earnings reporting season and the final week before the Nov. 5 U.S. Presidential election. Five of the Magnificent Seven companies – Alphabet, Microsoft, Meta Platforms, Amazon and Apple – are scheduled to report third-quarter earnings.

"One thing we expect to see play out is these megacap tech names continuing to reinforce commitment to AI in tech spending broadly," Yung-Yu Ma chief investment officer at BMO Wealth Management, told CNBC. "I don't think there's going to be any backing away from that."

"If for some reason we don't get that – if a few of those tech companies reporting talk about say tapping on the brakes a little bit in some of these investments – the market would not take that well," he added. "So that's going to be somewhat impactful, for the market to actually hear that these companies are continuing their commitment to spending in this area, if not accelerating."

Traders are also watching for a slew of key economic data this week, including the September jobs report due Friday; the September personal consumption expenditures, or PCE, price index, expected Thursday; and a preliminary reading on third-quarter gross domestic product out on Wednesday.

Macquarie upgrades shares of Nio, sees volume acceleration ahead

A couple of catalysts may send shares of Nio higher over the coming months, according to Macquarie.

The stock rose around 3% in the premarket on the heels of analyst Eugene Hsiao upgrading the stock to outperform from neutral. His price target also reflects more than 25% upside from Friday's close.

"NIO [is] the only player where volume/sales may miss expectations, but Onvo L60 [is] likely more meaningful in 4Q," he wrote in a Monday note. He added that current order trends are "well above" the company's guide of 20,000 unit deliveries for the period.

On top of that, Hsiao said that there may also be upside from the Chinese electric vehicle maker's launch of its Firefly brand next year.

While shares have gained more than 18% in the past three months, they've slumped this year, falling around 42%.

— Sean Conlon

Stifel downgrades Colgate-Palmolive, trims price target

Slowing organic sales growth could weigh on Colgate-Palmolive in the near term, according to Stifel.

Shares were marginally lower in the premarket after analyst Mark Astrachan downgraded his rating on the stock to hold from buy. He also slightly cut his price target, which now reflects more than 5% upside from Friday's close. This year, the stock has soared about 20%.

"We view fundamentals as more-than-solid, evidenced by ~4% volume growth following ~3% growth in 1H24, making Colgate one of the best-performing large-cap consumer staples companies," Astrachan wrote in a recent note to clients. "That said, comparisons are increasingly challenging, and we anticipate organic sales growth to slow from high single-digits in recent years."

More specifically, the analyst estimates between 4% and 5% growth in organic sales over the next four quarters.

"We think decelerating organic sales is unlikely to result in multiple expansion for CL shares, resulting in range-bound trading over the near-to-medium term, in our view," he also said.

— Sean Conlon

Wolfe Research downgrades Honeywell

Wolfe Research thinks some headwinds could bog down Honeywell over the next year.

The firm downgraded its rating on the stock to peer perform from outperform, seeing its risk-reward profile as being in the "middle of the pack." That marks the firm time since November 2005 that Wolfe has changed from its outperform rating on the name.

"HON has struggled for the past 2 years, and we have now become less optimistic that headwinds will resolve over the next 12 months," analyst Nigel Coe wrote in a Monday note to clients. "We see risk of another wave of negative EPS revisions during 1H25."

While Coe thinks that warehouse and supply chain headwinds will likely improve next year and in 2026, deceleration across some of the company's business units like Honeywell Process Solutions (HPS) and Universal Oil Products (UOP) could offset the gains seen in its short-cycle units.

"Consistent margin expansion has been HON's hallmark, but there are some worrying signs of a margin peak developing, especially if Aero margins remain pinned at ~27% in 2025," he continued.

Although the stock has risen more than 7% in the past six months, it's slid almost 1% year to date.

— Sean Conlon

Oppenheimer's Stoltzfus sees 'relief' for markets after U.S. election

John Stoltzfus of Oppenheimer Asset Management thinks markets will be choppy in the days leading to the election. After that, investors should be able to exhale.

"The Presidential election certainly looks to be a close one. We expect markets to continue to experience some upside and downside risk leading up to the election based on day to day news flow," the firm's chief investment strategist wrote.

"After the election? The market is likely to show some relief that an election outcome is known after which it will seek out opportunities and risks tied to policy that could emerge post-election," he added.

— Fred Imbert

European markets rise as trading kicks off

European markets were higher as trading began on Monday, with the pan-European Stoxx 600 last adding 0.24% at 8:15 a.m. London time.

Travel and leisure stocks were up around 1.1%, while oil and gas stocks lost 1.7%.

Regional bourses were also mostly higher with France's CAC 40 adding 0.7% and Germany's DAX rising 0.2%.

— Sophie Kiderlin

Japan leads Asia markets climb after ruling LDP loses majority

Japan's Nikkei 225 led gains in Asia on Monday, climbing 1.82% after the country's ruling Liberal Democratic Party lost its majority in the lower house of parliament. The Topix advanced 1.51% to 2,657.78.

Other major indexes also climbed, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng index reversing losses to gain 0.18% as of its final hour, while mainland China's CSI 300 traded 0.2% higher and finished at 3,964.16.

This comes after China reported its worst industrial profit numbers since the pandemic. Industrial profits in China plunged 27.1% year on year in September.

South Korea's Kospi gained 1.13% to 2,612.43, while the small cap Kosdaq was 1.8% higher, ending at 740.48 and rebounding off a six week low.

— Lim Hui Jie

Stock futures open higher

U.S. stock futures jumped on Sunday evening.

Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 117 points, or 0.3%. S&P 500 futures rose 0.3% and Nasdaq 100 futures advanced 0.4%.

— Tanaya Macheel