By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com – The S&P 500 climbed Monday, led by rising energy stocks as oil prices jumped to seven-year highs ahead of a busy week of quarterly earnings from big tech.
The S&P 500 rose 0.49%, and had hit a record high of 4,572.14 Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.22%, or 77 points, the Nasdaq climbed 0.87%.
Energy added to gains from last week as oil prices continued to climb on expectations that global supplies could remain tighter for longer as major oil produces appear reluctant to ramp-up output.
Saudi energy minister prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said over the weekend that the OPEC+ should maintain its cautious approach to raising output as the flare-up in global Covid-19 cases could dent demand.
APA (NASDAQ:APA), APA Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY), led the gains for energy, with the latter 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 Facebook kicks off a wave of earnings for big tech after U.S. markets close.
Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) is battling challenges on several fronts including increased regulatory security over its user data practices and the impact on ad revenue from Apple's changes to its iPhone operating system.
Google-parent Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Twitter, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) report earnings on Tuesday.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) report earnings on Thursday.
Pinterest (NYSE:PINS), meanwhile, slumped more than 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 3% 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.
In other news, Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) jumped more than 4% to a record high and topped $1 trillion market cap for the first time 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.
In cryptocurrency markets, Bitcoin climbed 4% to $62,963, Ethereum was up 3.92% to $4,180, Binance Coin was up 2.7% to $487.20.