U.S. stocks rose to record highs on Monday as investors braced for the rally and the next batch of big bank earnings to test the prospects of an economic “soft landing.”
The S&P 500 (^GSPC) advanced 0.7% to a fresh record after closing above 5,800 for the first time on Friday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite ( ^IXIC ) rose about 1% as shares of Nvidia ( NVDA ) surged about 3.5% to new highs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) was above the flatline.
Earnings dominated the first full week of third-quarter results. As the bull market turns 2, how the season plays out is considered key to the stock’s upswing.
The Dow and S&P 500 hit new record highs for the week after JPMorgan Chase ( JPM ) and Wells Fargo ( WFC ) earnings largely passed Wall Street’s test. Investors’ focus is on big banks, with reports from Goldman Sachs ( GS ), Citi ( C ), and Bank of America ( PAC ) on Tuesday’s docket, and Morgan Stanley ( MS ) due on Wednesday.
At the same time, there is still uncertainty about whether the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates again. Some analysts argue that a benign jobs report and data showing “sticky” consumer and headline inflation mean no rate cut in November. Retail sales data later in the week will feed into the debate over whether the economy is holding up in the face of Fed policy – the preferred soft landing.
Read More: What Fed Cuts Mean for Bank Accounts, CDs, Loans and Credit Cards
On the corporate front, shares of Boeing ( BA ) fell nearly 3% amid questions about the crisis-hit planemaker’s future. The company, which faced a third-quarter loss of $5 billion, cut 17,000 jobs as a month-long strike affected production.
