All major US stock indexes close at record highs ahead of a flood of corporate earnings
- Wall Street's key stock indexes ended at record highs on Monday.
- Stocks advanced ahead of the second-quarter earnings season which starts on Tuesday.
- Disney and Goldman Sachs shares were winners on the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
US stocks finished at record highs on Monday, before the start of a new round of earnings reports that should show profit growth for Corporate America.
All three of Wall Street's benchmark indexes notched new closing highs, with the Dow industrials and the S&P 500 overcoming losses earlier in the day. Among the Dow's winners, Disney rose after saying its Disney Plus streaming service pulled in $60 million from this weekend's release of Marvel Studios' "Black Widow" movie.
Here's where US indexes stood at 4:30 p.m. on Monday:
- S&P 500: 4,384.75, up 0.35%
- Dow Jones Industrial Average: 35,000.85, up 0.37% (130.76 points)
- Nasdaq Composite: 14,733.24, up 0.21%
Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase advanced ahead of the release of their financial results early Tuesday in what's considered the kickoff to the second-quarter earnings season. S&P 500 companies are expected, on average, profit growth of 64%, led by the energy and industrial sectors, according to FactSet.
"With expectations high (again), it won't be easy for companies to handily clear the bar like they did the past several quarters. We also recognize that stock valuations are elevated, so disappointments will likely be punished. Stocks need strong earnings to come through to justify those valuations, and we think we'll get them," said strategists at LPL Financial in a Monday note.
Around the markets, Virgin Galactic shares turned sharply lower after the company said it could sell up to $500 million worth of stock following a successful space test flight with founder Richard Branson on board.
Markets veteran Mohamed El-Erian said stocks are vulnerable to falls despite the recent drop in bond yields and could be rocked when the US Federal Reserve starts to unwind its support.
Gold rose 0.9% to $1,805.68 per ounce. Long-dated US Treasury yields rose, with the 10-year yield at 1.363%.
Oil prices were mixed. West Texas Intermediate crude declined 0.6%, to $74.12. Brent crude, oil's international benchmark, picked up 0.1%, to $75.23 per barrel .
Bitcoin dropped 3.9%, to $32,910.95.