U.S. stock markets closed higher on Monday ahead of the earnings season that will start from this week with several big banks set to report earnings. Market participants will also look for updates with regard to the U.S. Federal Reserve’s monetary policy as the Fed Chair Jerome Powell is set to testify before Congress this week. All the three major stock indexes closed the day in green.
How Did The Benchmarks Perform?
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) rose 0.4% or 126.02 points, closing at 34,996.18, another fresh closing high and continuing its gains from Friday. Notably, 16 components of the 30-stock index ended in green while 14 finished the day in red.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite closed the day at 14,733.24, up 0.2%, a new record high, maintaining its two-day winning streak, on the back of strong performance by large-cap technology stocks. Shares of heavyweight technology names like NVIDIA Corp.
NVDA
, Intel Corp.
INTC
, and Alphabet Inc.
GOOGL
gained 2.3%, 1.3% and 1.2%, respectively. NVIDIA carries a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see
the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here
.
The S&P 500 rose 0.4%, closing the day at 4,384.63, a new closing high, continuing its gains for the second consecutive session. The Financials Select Sector SPDR (XLF) and the Real Estate Select Sector SPDR (XLRE) gained nearly 1% and 0.9%, respectively. Nine out of eleven sectors of the benchmark index closed in the positive zone while two closed in red.
The fear-gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) was down 0.1% to 16.17. A total of 8.3 billion shares were traded on Monday, lower than the last 20-session average of 10.5 billion. Advancers outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by a 1.43-to-1 ratio. On Nasdaq, a 1.11-to-1 ratio favored advancing issues.
Wall Street Closed at Record Highs Ahead of Earnings Season
The three major benchmark indexes closed at fresh record highs ahead of the earnings season that will start from this week with several big banks ready to report their second-quarter earnings.
The earnings season is expected to be robust and per our latest estimates on Jul 9, the total second-quarter earnings for S&P 500 is expected to be up 62.2% from the same period last year on 18.2% higher revenues.
Fed Chair to Testify Before Congress This Week
Market participants will also remain watchful as the U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is set to testify before the Congress on Wednesday and Thursday. Market participants will watch out for comments by Powell regarding any updates to the Fed’s monetary policy.
Despite the higher inflation, the Fed has maintained its easy monetary policy. In fact, the minutes released last week of its latest FOMC Policy Meet, showed that the Fed is still looking to pursue the accommodative stance of monetary policy.
Meanwhile, yield on the benchmark U.S. 10-Year Treasury Note is currently hovering around 1.33%, well below 1.5% at the time when the Fed Chair made his post-FOMC meeting statement on Jun 16. This shows investors are not that much concerned about mounting inflation. Powell has repeatedly reiterated that inflation is transitory.
Bitcoin, Like the Internet Itself, Could Change Everything
Blockchain and cryptocurrency has sparked one of the most exciting discussion topics of a generation. Some call it the “Internet of Money” and predict it could change the way money works forever. If true, it could do to banks what Netflix did to Blockbuster and Amazon did to Sears. Experts agree we’re still in the early stages of this technology, and as it grows, it will create several investing opportunities.
Zacks’ has just revealed 3 companies that can help investors capitalize on the explosive profit potential of Bitcoin and the other cryptocurrencies with significantly less volatility than buying them directly.
See 3 crypto-related stocks now >>
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days.
Click to get this free report