NEW YORK: The tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed to a record high on Monday, boosted by chipmakers, with much anticipated quarterly results from Nvidia and the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting minutes this week likely to test Wall Street’s record-breaking run.
Upbeat corporate earnings and softer-than-expected inflation data have supported hopes for interest rate cuts this year. The S&P 500 inched closer to an all-time high, while the blue-chip Dow reclaimed the 40,000-point level.
Investors awaited quarterly results from Nvidia on Wednesday for evidence that the AI chip leader can maintain its explosive growth and stay ahead of rivals.
“Since their last blowout report, investors still have very high hopes for Nvidia and AI in general, and this is going to be a good test to see where things are in the AI space,” said Paul Nolte, senior wealth adviser at Murphy & Sylvest.
Nvidia jumped 2%, with at least three brokerages raising their price targets, while Micron Technology climbed 3.6% after Morgan Stanley upgraded the memory chipmaker to “equal-weight” from “underweight”.
Information technology stocks outperformed the major S&P 500 sector indexes. The Philadelphia chip index was up 2.1% as well.
Minutes of the Fed’s latest monetary policy meeting are also scheduled for Wednesday.
“While in the short run we can see markets move higher, over the next three to five years markets are really going to struggle to significantly make headway due to high valuations,” Nolte said.
The S&P 500 trades at a forward price-to-earning ratio of 20.8, well above its historic average of 15.9, according to LSEG Datastream.
Deutsche Bank raised its 2024 year-end S&P 500 target to 5,500 from 5,100 points earlier, the highest among major brokerages, while Morgan Stanley forecast it would hit 5,400 by June 2025.
On the economic data front, weekly initial jobless claims, S&P global flash PMI readings and durable goods data are due through the week.
At 11:39 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 65.56 points, or 0.16%, at 40,069.15, the S&P 500 was up 20.46 points, or 0.39%, at 5,323.73, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 112.32 points, or 0.67%, at 16,798.29.
Johnson Controls International rose 3% following a report activist investor Elliott Investment Management built a position worth over $1 billion in the building solutions provider.
Norwegian Cruise Line soared 8.5% after lifting its annual profit forecast. Peers Carnival Corp and Royal Caribbean Cruise also jumped 7.3% and 6%, respectively.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.66-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.26-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.