Investing.com – Stocks edged forward on Monday morning, ahead of bank’s earnings releases later in the week.
The S&P 500 was up 0.02% at 9:43 AM ET (15:43 GMT) while the Dow composite inched down 0.05% and the tech heavy NASDAQ Composite increased 0.01%. Earlier in the trading day the S&P and Nasdaq reached record highs before leveling.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT) was among the top gainers, increasing 1.28% after it announced it would speed up returns of online sales. Semiconductor Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NASDAQ:AMD) rose 3.78% while shares in nutrient company Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) increased 3.60%.
Some of the biggest losers were Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), which fell 2.27% after it delayed the launch of its semi-truck. United States Steel Corporation (NYSE:X) slumped 4.64% while General Electric (NYSE:GE) was down 2.81% after a recent management shakeup.
Medical technology firm Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) decreased 3.77% after it said Hurricane Maria would impact its sales in the second quarter of 2018 and hit its Puerto Rico business. And Viacom Inc (NASDAQ:VIA) slipped 2.82% after Citigroup (NYSE:C) downgraded the media company's stock to “sell”.
The bond market was closed for the Columbus Day holiday. On Thursday two of the biggest Wall Street banks, JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) and Citigroup, will release their earnings before the morning bell.
Elsewhere, European stocks were flat after a tumultuous week. The pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 increased 0.15% while Spain’s IBEX 35 rose 0.51% as fears of Catalan independence eased. Germany’s Dax inched forward 0.07% while in Franc the CAC 40 was down 0.04%. In London the FTSE 100 fell 0.34%.
In commodities, gold futures rose 0.71% to $1,284.10 an ounce while crude oil was up 0.30% to $49.44 a barrel amid hope of further production cuts from the Organization of the Petroleum of Exporting Countries.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, decreased to 93.59.