A trader works on the New York Stock Exchange on April 25, 2024.
Brendan Mcdermid | Reuters
Stocks edged higher Monday, boosted by gains in some mega-cap tech stocks, as traders entered a week dominated by corporate earnings and a Federal Reserve meeting.
The S&P500 And Nasdaq Composite added 0.4% and 0.5% respectively. The Dow Jones Industrial Average improved 136 points, or 0.4%.
Tesla rose more than 15% after overcoming a major hurdle to full self-driving technology in China. Apple rose more than 3% after a bullish upgrade from investment firm Bernstein. But the gains were limited as Big Tech peers Microsoft, Alphabet, Meta And Nvidia all trading lower.
Domino's Pizza fell by more than 4% after the figures exceeded analysts' expectations on Monday morning. Apple, McDonald's, Coca-Cola And Amazon are also among the major companies sharing quarterly figures this week.
These releases come during what looks to be a strong earnings season. Of the more than 46% of S&P 500 companies that have reported results to date, about four in five have exceeded expectations, according to FactSet.
Monday's action follows a positive but choppy week on Wall Street, marking a reprieve from the market's recent downtrend. Still, the broad S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq are on track to fall more than 2% by the end of April, while the blue-chip Dow Jones is poised to fall more than 3%.
“We're still in that pullback phase,” said Larry Tentarelli, chief technical strategist for the Blue Chip Daily Trend Report. But, “I think it will turn out to be just that: a pullback. I don't think it's a change in trend.”
Monetary policy will take center stage later this week, with the Fed set to release its latest interest rate announcement on Wednesday. While the central bank is widely expected to keep borrowing costs unchanged, investors will still be closely watching the post-announcement press conference with Chairman Jerome Powell.
