U.S. Stocks Resume Rally to Record on Growth Bets

U.S. equities headed for all-time highs amid solid corporate earnings and confidence that the Federal Reserve will remain accommodative even as robust growth takes the world’s largest economy back to pre-pandemic levels. The S&P 500 rose after notching its first weekly decline since mid-March. Most of the main 11 industry groups gained, with energy shares jumping the most. Small-cap stocks in the Russell 2000 outperformed the broader market. The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield hovered around its 50-day moving average. Copper, seen as a barometer of growth, surged to the highest in a decade.

Investors this week will focus on corporate earnings and U.S. economic data even as the Fed primes them to expect no change to policy at their two-day meeting ending Wednesday. While emerging economies from India to Brazil are grappling with a Covid-19 surge or renewed curbs, the developed world is on a firmer recovery path with a faster pace of vaccination.

More than three-quarters of the S&P 500 companies that have reported results so far have beaten analysts’ estimates, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. A slew of earnings from megacaps including Tesla Inc., Facebook Inc. and Apple Inc. will be parsed this week as investors look for more clues on how companies are faring in the recovery.

European stocks advanced Monday, as gains for banks and travel companies offset losses for food companies and utilities. The dollar was little changed after initially falling to a two-month low. It was still on course for the biggest monthly drop this year. Oil retreated amid concern demand from India may fall after the nation reported a million new coronavirus cases in three days.

Stocks

The S&P 500 rose 0.2% as of 1:57 p.m. New York timeThe Dow Jones Industrial Average was little changedThe Russell 2000 Index rose 1.2%The Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.3%The MSCI Emerging Markets Index rose 0.6%

Currencies

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changedThe euro fell 0.1% to $1.2084The British pound rose 0.1% to $1.3891The Japanese yen fell 0.2% to 108.14 per dollar

Bonds

The yield on 10-year Treasuries was little changed at 1.56%Germany’s 10-year yield was little changed at -0.25%Britain’s 10-year yield advanced one basis point to 0.76%

Commodities

West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.2% to $62 a barrelGold futures rose 0.1% to $1,780 an ounce

U.S. Stocks Resume Rally to Record on Growth Bets: Markets Wrap, Reuters, Apr 27