U.S. stocks were mostly higher Monday afternoon after flipping between small gains and losses, though the S&P 500 remained near the top end of its recent range ahead of the first full week of first-quarter earnings season.How stocks are trading
The Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
+0.13%
was up 21 points, or 0.1%, at 33,906.
The S&P 500
SPX,
+0.09%
was trading between slight gains and losses at around 4,137.
The Nasdaq Composite
COMP,
+0.01%
was down 8 points, or 0.1%, at 12,111.
Last week, the Dow rose 1.2%, while the S&P 500 gained 0.8% and the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite edged up 0.3%. The Dow booked a fourth straight week of gains for its longest winning streak since October, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
What’s driving markets The first-quarter earnings-reporting season picks up steam this week, with 60 S&P 500 companies, including six Dow components, reporting quarterly results, according to FactSet. Those companies will report as Wall Street analysts remain pessimistic about results for the quarter and the prospect of another so-called earnings recession in which profits contract for at least two straight quarters. Read: Tesla, Netflix earnings due: Cheaper cars, cheaper content, more workout videos, as ‘earnings recession’ seems likely “The market is cautiously looking at earnings,” said Ty Young, founder and chief executive of Ty J. Young Wealth Management, which manages $1 billion in assets from Atlanta. “We have interest rates that have been going up and up, and that’s going to affect earnings; it hasn’t yet, but it’s going to dramatically at some point.”“Inflation has stabilized, but at quite higher levels than the historical average, which is a problem and another thing that continues to worry the market,” Young said via phone. “Finally, the market is concerned about the prospects of a recession.” As of Monday, the S&P 500 was trading near the top end of the 3,800 to 4,200 range within which it has vacillated for about five months. Big banks kicked off the first-quarter U.S. earnings season last Friday, and the positive response to those reports signals easing anxiety about the financial sector and broader confidence about company profitability — even while traders solidify their expectations for another quarter-of-a-percentage-point rate hike by the Federal Reserve in …
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