S&P 500 rises slightly to record high ahead of big earnings reports this week

The S&P 500 inched up to a new high on Monday as investors waited for the second-quarter earnings season to kick off this week. The broad index added 0.27% and hit an intraday record Monday morning. The Nasdaq Composite traded near the flatline after also reaching an intraday high Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial average rose about 121 points, or 0.35%. The three major indexes closed at record highs on Friday with the S&P 500′s gain for the year so far now totaling more than 16%.

Investors may be waiting to get some more clarity from this earnings season before making their next move. JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs will be among the first big companies to report Tuesday before the bell. Both were slightly higher on Monday.

Second-quarter earnings are expected to surge more than 64% from levels depleted by the pandemic a year ago, according to estimates collected by FactSet. If companies deliver on those estimates, it will be the largest growth rate since the last quarter of 2009 as the market was coming out of the Great Financial Crisis. Markets largely churned on Monday. Names linked to economic comeback from the pandemic were slightly weaker with Carnival Corp. and General Electric lower.

Technology stocks showed pockets of strength with Tesla and Nvidia higher. Some defensive areas like healthcare also faired well with shares of Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson in the green.

Along with JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs, Pepsico will also report on Tuesday before the bell. Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Delta Air Lines and BlackRock report on Wednesday, and Morgan Stanley, Truist and UnitedHealth post results on Thursday.

Investors also anticipate important data to be released this week, including key readings on inflation on Tuesday and Wednesday, and June retail sales on Friday. Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell is set to testify before Congress on Wednesday and Thursday.

S&P 500 rises slightly to record high ahead of big earnings reports this week, CNBC, Jul 13