Investing.com – U.S. stocks closed higher on Monday, led by technology stocks, as investors looked ahead to earnings season which begins in earnest on Friday.
Tech lead the move higher in U.S equities, as Facebook, Amazon, Apple and Alphabet ended the session more than 1% higher.
Financials, mostly banks, made a subdued start to the week, ahead of the start of second-quarter earnings season, with JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Wellsfargo expected to report earnings on Friday.
The positive day on Wall Street comes on the back of an uptick in sentiment on the strength of the U.S. economy, following nonfarm payrolls data Friday, which topped expectations.
In corporate earnings news, Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Chief Executive Elon Musk on Sunday tweeted pictures of the first Model 3 sedan to roll off the assembly line.
Musk expects the $35,000 Model 3, aimed at the mass market, to help the company deliver five times its current annual sales volume.
A raft of economic data is expected this week which includes key inflation and monthly retail sales data while Fed chair Janet Yellen is due to testify in front of Congress on Wednesday and Thursday.
Investors will parse Yellen’s comments for any clues concerning monetary policy, after the fed minutes last week revealed that some members had expressed concerns that keeping policy loose was posing increasing risks to financial stability and the economy.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 21,408.52, down about 6 points. The S&P 500 closed 0.09% higher while the Nasdaq Composite closed at 6176.39, up about 0.38%.
‘Bulls and Bears’ on Wall Street
The top Dow gainers for the session: Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) up 1.3%, Visa Inc (NYSE:V) up 1.2% and Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) up 0.9%
Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT) down 2.8%, The Travelers Companies Inc (NYSE:TRV) down 1.1% and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) down 0.7%, were among the worst Dow performers of the session.