Opening Bell - Morning Commentary

Nvidia Earnings Take Centre Stage this week, PSU Buying and Political Clarity Support Indian Markets.

The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 climbed well off their lows and into positive territory before eventually ending the day roughly flat.

Recent comments from Federal Reserve officials, as well as indications that key U.S. economic data may never be released due to the government shutdown, have reduced confidence that the central bank will continue lowering interest rates next month.

Overall results remained well above analysts’ expectations relative to forecasts before the release of third-quarter numbers.

S&P 500 companies’ earnings are expected to rise by an average of 13.1% versus a forecast for about 8.0% growth entering earnings season.

Bond market traders dialled back their expectations of an interest rate cut at the U.S. Federal Reserve meeting scheduled to conclude on December 10.

Investors in recent days have fretted about the pace of rate cuts and the pricey valuations of heavyweight artificial intelligence stocks that have fueled much of the U.S. stock market's gains over the past few years.

The most important earnings release this week will be from Nvidia. Nvidia carries an 8% weight in the S&P 500 and a roughly 10% weight in the widely followed Nasdaq 100.

Nvidia is the "epicentre" of AI build-out, so its results after the bell on Wednesday will be significant for the tech sector.

Indian equity markets ended last week on a positive note, buoyed by late buying in PSU stocks, despite volatility from global factors and sector-wide profit booking.

Midcap and smallcap indices underperformed, with market breadth staying negative—profit-taking dominated, as advances lagged declines

The NDA’s decisive victory in the Bihar assembly elections boosted sentiment and drove late buying, especially in PSU banks.

Despite sustained foreign selling, strong domestic inflows and resilient macro data kept the rupee off record lows.

Nifty partially filled the upward gap between 25,715 and 25,781 recorded on November 12, underscoring the importance of this region as a key support zone. The sharp rebound from this level reaffirms the prevailing uptrend, suggesting strong buying interest at lower levels.

Immediate resistance lies at 26,100, followed by 26,277, while the 25,715–25,740 range now serves as a crucial support band.

Indian markets are poised to open mildly higher on positive cues.