NEW YORK: Wall Street’s main indexes rose on Monday as electric-car maker Tesla gained ahead its earnings report, kicking off this week’s results from heavyweight technology companies.
Tesla Inc advanced 1.3% as analysts expect the company to report a rise in first-quarter revenue following record deliveries. Its results are due after markets close.
Companies that constitute about 40% of the S&P 500’s market cap report from Tuesday through Thursday, including Microsoft Corp, Google parent Alphabet Inc, Apple Inc and Facebook Inc. Shares of the companies were higher in early afternoon trading.
“Investors are anticipating either good results from tech or certainly much improved guidance, with the pandemic fears being reduced,” said Rick Meckler, partner, Cherry Lane Investments, New Jersey.
“Two big concerns for the market right now is the tech earnings picture... and inflation as there are a lot of stories about price rise on the horizon.”
Seven of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors were trading higher, with financials and energy gaining the most, while defensive utilities and consumer staples led declines.
Of the 124 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported so far, 85.5% have topped analysts’ earnings estimates, with Refinitiv IBES data now predicting a 34.3% jump in profit growth.
Investors are monitoring a two-day Federal Reserve meeting beginning Tuesday, with the US central bank expected to shine some light on whether the employment landscape has changed its plans to leave interest rates near zero for an extended time and to continue buying $120 billion in bonds each month.
Also on the radar is a reading of first-quarter gross domestic product later this week to gauge the pace of economic recovery in the United States.
At 12:05 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 17.83 points, or 0.05%, at 34,061.32, the S&P 500 was up 8.51 points, or 0.20%, at 4,188.68 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 80.85 points, or 0.58%, at 14,097.66.
Market participants are also watching out for any fresh developments on President Joe Biden’s tax plan after reports last week said he would seek to nearly double the capital gains tax to 39.6% for wealthy individuals.
Cryptocurrency and blockchain-related firms including Riot Blockchain and Marathon Patent Group rose 5% each as bitcoin looked set to snap five straight days of losses.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.13-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 2.47-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 103 new 52-week highs and no new low, while the Nasdaq recorded 132 new highs and 16 new lows.
Comments
Comments are closed.