Fired general accused of being source for Wall Street Journal, NYT

Investors started the new trading week with a positive outlook, driven by US midterm elections that matter to them. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained nearly one percent, closing at 52,215 points. The S&P 500 remained largely unchanged at 7,585 points. The technology-focused Nasdaq, with the 100 largest non-financial companies by market capitalization, saw a slight decline of 0.2 percent, closing at 25,383 points.

The Nasdaq 100, tracking the 100 largest non-financial companies, was also slightly in the red at 28,256 points.

On Friday, investors sold heavily on Wall Street, with the technology-heavy Nasdaq taking a significant hit. Disappointing quarterly results from several tech giants spurred the wave. October was the worst month for the Nasdaq since 1.5 years, with a total loss of 5.3 percent. The Philly Semiconductor Index also fell by 15.3 percent, partly due to a correction in Intel's earnings forecast, which saw its stock value halve within two days.

Senior Market Analyst Daniela Hathorn of capital.com explained that investors are still ready to buy into downsizing, but confidence in the tech sector is fragile after a weak October. The focus now lies on further tech earnings. Later in the evening, Apple announced its quarterly results, surpassing its rival Nvidia, which had fallen in the race for the most valuable stock company.

Nvidia's stock had dropped a quarter since June. This amounted to around a billion dollars in market value. Hathorn stated that Apple's numbers are particularly noteworthy, as the company is relatively less affected by the large-scale expansion of AI infrastructure compared to its competitors.