A trader works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange on April 25, 2024.
Brendan Mcdermid | Reuters
Stocks edged higher on Monday, lifted by gains in some megacap technology stocks as traders entered a week dominated by corporate earnings and a Federal Reserve meeting.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite each added 0.3%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 104 points, or 0.3%.
Tesla jumped around 17% after clearing a key hurdle for full self-driving technology in China. Apple climbed about 3% on the heels of a bullish upgrade from investment firm Bernstein. But gains were restricted as big tech peers Microsoft, Alphabet, Meta and Nvidia all traded lower.
Domino’s Pizza popped about 5% after reporting earnings topped analysts’ expectations on Monday morning. Apple, McDonald’s, Coca-Cola and Amazon are also among the major companies sharing quarterly financials this week.
Those releases come during what’s shaping up to be a strong earnings season. Of the more than 45% S&P 500-listed firms that have posted results so far, about 4 out of every 5 have surpassed expectations, according to FactSet
Monday’s action follows a positive yet choppy week on Wall Street, marking a reprieve from the recent market downtrend. Still, the broad S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq are on track to end April down more than 2%, while the blue-chip Dow is poised to slide more than 3%.
“We are still in that pullback phase,” said Larry Tentarelli, chief technical strategist of the Blue Chip Daily Trend Report. But, “I think … it is going to turn out to be just that: a pullback. I don’t think it’s a change of trend.”
Monetary policy will take center stage later in the week, with the Fed set to release its latest interest rate announcement on Wednesday. While the central bank is widely anticipated to keep the borrowing cost unchanged, investors will still closely monitor the postannouncement press conference with Chair Jerome Powell.