NEW YORK: The tech-heavy Nasdaq led Wall Street higher on Monday supported by megacap growth stocks including Apple and Tesla, ahead of quarterly results from industry heavyweights through the week.
Second-quarter earnings are gathering momentum, with Tesla due to report on Wednesday, while Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Netflix are also lined up through the rest of the week.
Of the 30 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings as of Friday, 80% beat analyst expectations, according to Refinitiv data.
“Investors are looking at the fact that the economy has been really resilient and corporate earnings so far are coming in pretty well,” said Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer for Independent Advisor Alliance.
Apple climbed 1.2% after Morgan Stanley raised its target price on the iPhone maker.
Tesla gained 1.9% after the company said on Sunday it had built its first Cybertruck, after two years of delays.
Rival Ford Motor shed 4.9% after the carmaker slashed the prices of its popular electric F-150 Lightning trucks.
Other automakers like Rivian and General Motors slid more than 3% each.
At 11:37 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 87.28 points, or 0.25%, at 34,596.31, the S&P 500 was up 13.76 points, or 0.31%, at 4,519.18, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 90.25 points, or 0.64%, at 14,203.95.
The three major US indexes ended last week over 2% higher after data provided further evidence that the economy had entered a disinflation phase, stoking hopes that the Federal Reserve will soon end its monetary policy tightening.
New York Fed Manufacturing data showed the general business conditions index fell to 1.1 from 6.6 in June, indicating activity changed little during the month.
On Friday, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Citigroup showed big US banks got a profit boost from higher rates and painted a picture of a resilient economy, with sparks of hope in some businesses like deal-making that have been in the dumps of late.
The strong opening rally in lenders, however, quickly fizzled out with most financials ending Friday’s session lower as investors feared things were as good as they would get for a while.
The banking index advanced 1.4% by mid-day trading, recovering Friday’s sharp losses.
Activision Blizzard rose 3.2% after Microsoft said it has signed an agreement to keep “Call of Duty” on PlayStation following its acquisition.
Also helping the stock, a US appeals court on Friday rejected the Federal Trade Commission’s request to pause Microsoft’s $69 billion purchase.
AT&T tumbled 5.3% to a 30-year low after Citi downgraded the telecom operator over risks tied to lead cables.
Elsewhere, data showed the Chinese economy grew at a frail pace in the second quarter.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.41-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and a 1.87-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 44 new 52-week highs and four new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 104 new highs and 50 new lows.
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