US Stocks Add To Records Ahead Of Big Tech Results

All three major US stock indexes eked out record closing highs for a second straight session on Monday as investors were optimistic heading into a slew of earnings from heavyweight technology and internet names this week.

However, caution ahead of a Federal Reserve policy meeting kept the market in check.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.24 percent, to 35,144, the S&P 500 gained a quarter of a percent to 4,422 and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.03 percent, to 14,841.

More than one-third of the S&P 500 was set to report quarterly results this week, including Apple, Microsoft, Amazon.com and Google parent Alphabet, the four largest US companies by market value. Apple rose 0.3 percent.

Shares of Tesla, which reported quarterly results after the market close, were up about 1 percent in after-hours trading. The stock ended the regular session up 2.2 percent.

US-listed Chinese shares, however, fell after Beijing last week announced new rules on private tutoring and online education firms, the latest in a series of crackdowns on the technology sector that have roiled financial markets.

The vast majority of second-quarter earnings have handily beaten analysts' expectations so far, bumping up the already huge projected growth for the second quarter, according to Refinitiv data.

"We continue to see positive surprises, and even with a lot of optimism and increased estimates going into earnings season, we're still seeing companies exceed those expectations," said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment strategist at Inverness Counsel in New York.

"As we get into the heart of (the earnings season) and we get industrials and more cyclical names, it will be interesting to see not only how much there is in terms of recovery but also is there any impact from some of these issues, meaning inflation, the spike in prices."

3M, up 0.6 percent, is due to report on Tuesday while Boeing, up 2 percent, is set to report on Wednesday.

A two-day meeting of the Fed starts on Tuesday, and all eyes may be on whether the central bank expresses any new concerns about high inflation when it concludes its gathering on Wednesday.

Continued optimism over second-quarter earnings has also helped offset recent concerns over the market impact of the Delta variant of Covid-19. (Reuters)