US stocks edge higher as traders get ready for a big week of corporate earnings
- US stocks rose Monday as investors braced for earnings season to get fully underway this week.
- Results from the big banks so far have mostly exceeded Wall Street's expectations.
US stocks closed higher on Monday as traders eye corporate earnings results and speculate on the Federal Reserve's next move to combat stubbornly high inflation.
Big financial institutions including JPMorgan and BlackRock opened up first-quarter season on Friday, with JPMorgan posting record revenue to handily beat analysts' estimates. CEO Jamie Dimon warned that the US economy is facing looming "storm clouds," citing risks from turmoil in the banking sector.
Shares of Charles Schwab swung after reporting first-quarter results that beat estimates but announcing a pause in share buybacks in response to March's banking crisis. The stock closed 4% higher. State Street declined over 9% after earnings disappointed investors.
Result continue to roll in this week, with Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Netflix, and Tesla all set to report this week.
Also on Monday, Richmond Fed chief Thomas Barkin said he wants to see more evidence that inflation is cooling back to the central bank's 2% target, Bloomberg reported.
Here's where US indexes stood shortly after the 4:00 p.m. ET close on Monday:
- S&P 500:4,151.32, up 0.33%
- Dow Jones Industrial Average: 33,987.18, up 0.3% (100.71 points)
- Nasdaq Composite: 12,157.72, up 0.28%
Here's what else is happening today:
- Morgan Stanley's top stock strategist Mike Wilson says a credit crunch stemming after the turmoil from Silicon Valley Bank has begun as bank lending declines in recent weeks.
- The US economy will not face a "big recession" this year, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink says, but inflation will remain stickier for longer.
- Fitch Solutions' Cedric Chehab said US dollar dominance will decline over time but it will be "a slow erosion," citing China's economic influence.
- Alphabet wiped out $55 billion in market value after the New York Times reported that Samsung is considering replacing Google as the default search engine across its devices.
- In a Bloomberg TV interview, Deutsche Bank's US stock chief said that stronger-than-expected first quarter earnings and a weakening US dollar will help equities rally.
In commodities, bonds and crypto:
- West Texas Intermediate crude oil fell 1.9% to $80.94 per barrel. Brent crude, oil's international benchmark, declined 1.24% to $84.81.
- Gold fell 0.3% to $2,008.80 per ounce.
- The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose seven basis points to 3.60%.
- Bitcoin fell 2.6% to $29,520.