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* Banks advance ahead of earnings report this week
* Didi slips on Chinese apps removal confirmation
* Virgin Galactic falls on $ 500 million share sale plan
* Indices: Dow + 0.30%, S&P 500 + 0.20%, Nasdaq -0.02% (updates with afternoon trading)
July 12 (Reuters) – The S&P 500 hit an all-time high on Monday, driven by Tesla and bank stocks as investors waited for the start of the second-quarter earnings season and a batch of economic data.
The Nasdaq also hit a record high before falling back into negative territory.
Seven of the 11 major S&P sector indices rose; finance and real estate have led the way.
Tesla jumped 3.6%. Tesla CEO Elon Musk insisted in court on Monday that he does not control Tesla and said he doesn’t like being the CEO of the electric vehicle company as he takes a stand to defend the acquisition of SolarCity by the company in 2016.
JPMorgan Chase added nearly 2%, and both stocks contributed more to the S&P 500’s gains than any other stock.
The S&P 500 Banks Index rose 1.5% ahead of quarterly results released this week by major banks, including Goldman Sachs Group and JPMorgan on Tuesday. Investors will be watching quarterly reports closely for early clues about how long the U.S. economic recovery will last, with S&P 500 companies’ earnings per share expected to rise 66%, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
The benchmark index has risen 16% so far this year, with some investors wondering how long the rally could last and worried about a possible slowdown.
“The earnings season is going to be warmly welcomed as an opportunity to confirm existing biases,” warned Mike Zigmont, head of trading and research at Harvest Volatility Management in New York. “Even if the forecast is not as optimistic as the more optimistic had hoped, everything will become more streamlined.”
This week, the focus will also be on a series of economic reports, including key US inflation data and retail sales. Additionally, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is scheduled to appear before Congress on Wednesday and Thursday to speak on inflation.
Investors have worried about rising inflation and the spread of the Delta coronavirus variant in recent sessions, with traders swinging between economy-linked value stocks and high tech growth names.
The S&P 500 Growth Index rose 0.15% on Monday, trailing the 0.39% rise in the S&P 500 Stock Index.
In afternoon trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3% to 34,974.06 points, while the S&P 500 gained 0.20% to 4,378.23.
The Nasdaq Composite fell -0.02% to 14,699.04.
Didi Global Inc fell 6% after confirming that the Chinese cyberspace administration notified app stores to remove the rideshare company’s 25 apps and said the move could impact its revenue in the region.
Virgin Galactic Holdings fell 15% as the space tourism company said it could sell up to $ 500 million in stock, a day after the company made its first full crew test flight in space with billionaire founder Richard Branson on board.
Rising issues outnumbered falling on the NYSE by a ratio of 1.24 to 1; on the Nasdaq, a ratio of 1.17 to 1 favored the declines.
The S&P 500 posted 63 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 71 new highs and 31 new lows. (Additional report by Devik Jain and Shreyashi Sanyal in Bangalore; Editing by Maju Samuel and Cynthia Osterman)
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