The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq notched record high closes on Monday, lifted by Alphabet and other megacaps ahead of several earnings reports this week, while investors bet on potential trade deals to blunt economic damage from the Trump administration’s global tariffs.
Google-parent Alphabet rallied 2.7 percent ahead of its quarterly report on Wednesday. It and Tesla, also reporting on Wednesday, kick off earnings from the so-called “Magnificent Seven”, and their results may set the tone for other heavyweight companies reporting in the next several days.
Tesla dipped 0.35 percent, while Apple gained 0.62 percent and Amazon rose 1.43 percent, both lifting the S&P 500 and Nasdaq.
Verizon rallied over 4 percent after the telecommunications company boosted its annual profit forecast.
Analysts on average expected S&P 500 companies to report a 6.7 percent increase in earnings for the second quarter, with Big Tech driving much of that gain, according to LSEG I/B/E/S.
“So far, companies that have reported have, in general, met or beat guidance from the prior quarter, and we haven’t seen any degradation either in corporate profits or consumer spending,” said Tom Hainlin, national investment strategist at US Bank Wealth Management in Minneapolis.
With US President Donald Trump’s August 1 tariff deadline approaching, the S&P 500 is up about 8 percent year to date, with investors betting the economic damage from tariffs will be less than feared.
