S&P 500, Dow ease from record levels; earnings, data in focus

The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones indexes retreated from record levels on Monday, as investors geared up for the start of the corporate reporting season and a key inflation report later this week.

A pullback in the benchmark 10-year bond yield from 14-month highs in April eased worries about higher borrowing costs, helping richly valued technology stocks gain ground and drive the S&P 500 and the Dow to record levels.

"Even with stocks at record highs, we expect further upside thanks to supportive fiscal and monetary policy, improving economic data and faster COVID-19 vaccination rates," said Tom Mantione, managing director, UBS Private Wealth Management in Connecticut.

The S&P 500 technology sector fell the most among the 11 major S&P 500 sectors, while energy stocks rose 0.9% on the back of higher oil prices.

US consumer price data for March and $271 billion of US Treasury auction this week could end a recent lull in the bond market, reigniting a rise in yields that worried investors in the first quarter.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Sunday said the US economy is at an "inflection point" with expectations that growth will pick up speed in the months ahead, but also risks if a hasty reopening leads to a continued increase in coronavirus cases.

Results from big US banks Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Wells Fargo will pour in on Wednesday, kicking off the first-quarter earnings season where investors will look for reasons to support a stock market at all-time highs.

S&P 500 earnings are expected to have jumped 25% in the quarter from a year ago, according to Refinitiv IBES data, the biggest quarterly gain since 2018, when tax cuts under former President Donald Trump drove a surge in profit growth.

At 9:48 a.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 42.80 points, or 0.13%, at 33,757.80, the S&P 500 was down 4.33 points, or 0.10%, at 4,124.47 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 62.12 points, or 0.45%, at 13,838.07. were down 47 points, or 0.34%

Tesla Inc rose 2.7% after Canaccord Genuity upgraded the electric-car maker's shares to "buy" and said the company could become "the brand" in energy storage.

US shares of Alibaba jumped nearly 9% after the ecommerce company said it does not expect any material impact from the antitrust crackdown in China that will push it to overhaul how it deals with merchants.

Shares of Nuance Communications Inc surged 16.9% as Microsoft Corp said it will buy the artificial intelligence and speech technology company in a $19.7 billion deal.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.01-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 1.91-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded 50 new 52-week highs and no new low, while the Nasdaq recorded 51 new highs and 25 new lows.