US stocks rose into the first trading day of the month as attention turned to this week’s heavy slate of earnings reports.
The S&P 500 Index advanced 1% at 10:14 a.m. in New York, while the Nasdaq 100 Index rose 0.6%. Top semiconductor companies Micron Technology Inc. and Broadcom Inc. retreated, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, known as the SOX, fell 1.9%.
US stocks had closed out the month on Friday with a gain, as Amazon.com Inc.’s 15% rally after strong results lifted a broad sweep of companies benefiting from demand for artificial intelligence. Amazon touched an intraday high on Monday, becoming only the fifth company to ever cross the $3 trillion market-cap threshold.
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Slumping oil prices also contributed to broadly positive sentiment on Monday. West Texas Intermediate crude fell 6.4% to trade around $79 after President Donald Trump called off a planned attack on Iran, whose foreign minister indicated talks to get more ships moving through the Strait of Hormuz were making progress. The fastest US manufacturing activity expansion in more than four years also lifted stocks.
“Earnings will remain the primary focus, with roughly 15% of the S&P 500 by market capitalization scheduled to report,” Matt Orton, Raymond James Investment Management Chief Market Strategist, said. He flagged energy, healthcare, utilities and industrials as sectors to watch, as they’ve “benefited from the recent rotation.” Their “results will help determine whether that relative strength is fundamentally sustainable,” he said.
Results from data-mining software developer Palantir Technologies Inc. are due after the close. The company is expected to post a 143% rise in net income for the second quarter on an 80% leap in revenue. Shares were down more than 40% since hitting a peak in November through Friday’s close.
