4:05pm: Dow Jones tops 38,000 for first time
US stocks finished Monday’s trading day with the S&P 500 and Dow Jones both setting new records.
The S&P 500 finished up 0.2% at 4,850.43 points, surpassing Friday’s closing record of 4,839.81 points.
The Dow Jones, on the other hand, added 0.4% to surpass 38,000 points for the first time. The Nasdaq closed up 0.3% at 15,360 points.
12:00pm: Stocks hold firm ahead of earnings avalanche
Stocks in New York remain in high spiritis ahead of a key week of corporate and economic news.
At midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 127.40 points, 0.3%, at 37,991.20, the S&P 500 was up 13.42 points, 0.3%, at 4,853.23 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 68.67 points, 0.5%, at 15,379.64.
Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at online trading platform IG said: "Last week’s momentum has carried over into Monday’s session, and investors appear unperturbed by the prospect of an avalanche of earnings heading their way."
"Stocks have once again defied the doubters by moving higher, after their brief outbreak of worry about the path of interest rates in the US and elsewhere."
"A bigger test for the rally comes from tomorrow, thanks to presence of key central bank meetings in Japan and the eurozone, and the full-on pace of earnings season in the next two weeks.”
9:45am: S&P 500 hits new all-time high
The S&P 500 hit a new all-time high as US equities continued their recent strong run.
Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 162.10 points, 0.4%, at 38,025.90, the S&P 500 was up 20.92 points, 0.4%, at 4,860.73 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 72.91 points, 0.5%, at 15,383.88.
Equities have shaken off a patch start to the year amid conviction that the Federal Reserve will soon cut interest rates and bets that the artificial-intelligence boom is set to continue.
Meanwhile, the earnings season picks up, with Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX)., Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA). and Intel Corp (NASDAQ:INTC, ETR:INL). among those due to release results this week.
In company news, fuel distributor Sunoco has agreed to buy pipeline operator NuStar Energy in a $7.3 billion deal, including debt.
Dallas-based Sunoco, which supplies fuel to about 10,000 stations across the US, said the all-stock deal would diversify its business and increase its scale.
Shares in San Antonio headquartered NuStar jumped 14% while Sunoco’s fell 7.7%.
7:00am: Stocks rally to continue, S&P looks to establish fresh new high
Stocks in New York are expected to open higher on Monday as the S&P 500 looks to establish a new record high.
In pre-market trading, futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 0.2%, while those for the S&P 500 climbed 0.3% and contracts for the Nasdaq 100 futures advanced 0.6%.
Stocks roared back to life on Friday after an up-and-down start to the year.
The S&P 500 broke both its intraday and closing record from January 2022, ending the day at 4,839.81.
Joshua Mahony at Scope Markets noted this week sees the first of the so-called ‘magnificent seven’ stocks report, with Tesla earnings due after the bell on Wednesday.
However, traders have been looking for clues elsewhere over the potential trajectory for AI stocks, with signs of strong demand at Supermicro computer (Cloud) and Taiwan Semiconductor (Chips) helping to lift expectations of how the big tech stocks will perform.
Later this week, GDP figures will be released along with PCE data, including the Federal reserve’s preferred inflation gauge.
Boeing shares were down more than 2% in the premarket after the Federal Aviation Administration advised flight carriers using the 737-900ER aircraft go through an inspection.
This comes after a door plug blew out on a 737 Max 9 midflight earlier this month.