By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com – The S&P 500 and Dow closed at record highs Monday, driven by a Tesla-powered rally in consumer discretionary, and gains in energy ahead of quarterly earnings from big tech.
The S&P 500 rose 0.49% to a closing record high of 4,566.92. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.19%, or 64 points to end the day at a closing record of 35,741.15, while the Nasdaq climbed 0.90%.
Consumer discretionary stocks advanced more than 2% as Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) jumped more than 12% to a record high and topped $1 trillion in market cap for the first time. Shares of electric vehicle maker jumped after car rental company Hertz ordered 100,000 Tesla vehicles for its fleet. Tesla also received a boost from Wall Street after Morgan Stanley upped its target to $1,200 from $900, citing higher volume expectations.
Energy added to gains from last week as oil prices climbed to seven-year highs on expectations that global supplies could remain tighter for longer as major oil producers appear reluctant to ramp-up output.
Saudi energy minister prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said over the weekend that OPEC+ should maintain its cautious approach to raising output as the flare-up in global Covid-19 cases poses a risk to demand.
APA Corporation (NASDAQ:APA), EOG Resources (NYSE:EOG), and Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY), led the gains for energy, with the latter closing up more than 3%
Materials also supported the broader market's move higher, powered by Albemarle (NYSE:ALB), and Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold (NYSE:FCX) underpinned by rising commodity prices.
Technology is set for a big week as big tech reports earnings.
Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) kicked off the earnings for big tech, beating expectations on the bottom line but missing estimates on the top line. The social media company also flagged slowing revenue growth for the current quarter following Apple's private changes to its mobile operating system iOS.
Google-parent Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Twitter, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) report earnings on Tuesday. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) report earnings on Thursday.
"[W]e believe 3Q results/guidance from tech stalwarts this week will be another positive catalyst for tech stocks and result in further multiple expansion as we see tech stocks up into year-end with our NASDAQ 16K year-end target," Wedbush said in a note.
Pinterest (NYSE:PINS), meanwhile, slumped about 13% after PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) denied that it was currently pursuing a takeover deal of the company. Bloomberg News article reported last week that PayPal had was weighing up a $45 billion bid for Pinterest.
Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) fell more than 2% after reporting mixed quarter results as earnings missed, while revenue beat Wall Street expectations as inflation and supply chain issues weighed.
Still, the third-quarter earnings season is shaping to be one of the best on record.
"Of the 117 S&P 500 companies that have reported earnings so far, 65% have exceeded consensus expectations by at least a standard deviation of analyst estimates, a rate that –if sustained –would rank among the strongest quarters on record behind 1Q and 2Q 2021," Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) said in a recent note.