By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com – The Dow closed higher on Monday, as several mega-cap tech companies resumed their trek higher following a stumble last week as investors eagerly awaited key earnings slated for later this week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.43%, or 115 points. The Nasdaq Composite gained 1.67% and the S&P 500 added 0.74%
Mega-cap tech made a positive start to the week as investors awaited clues on the performance of (NASDAQ:AMZN), Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), all of which are slated to report earnings on Thursday.
Ahead of the earnings reports, tech will come under scrutiny on Capitol Hill, where chief executives of Facebook, Apple, Alphabet, and Amazon are due to testify on Wednesday, before a Congressional hearing on antitrust in big tech.
Tech's climb higher was also helped by a jump in chip stocks, led by a 12.6% pop in Taiwan Semiconductor (NYSE:TSM) on reports that Intel had ordered 6nm chips from Taiwan Semiconductor for next year.
In health care, Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) was up 9.1% after receiving $472 million in government funding to accelerate the development of its coronavirus vaccine.
On the earnings front, meanwhile, Hasbro (NASDAQ:HAS) reported second-quarter results that missed on the top line as shuttered stores and product shortages weighed on performance, sending its shares more than 7% lower.
In other news, Boeing (NYSE:BA), which fell 2.07%, reportedly plans to delay the launch of its new 777X jet by up to a year, CNBC reported, citing sources.
Financials, paced by a decline in bank stocks, also kept gains in the broader market in check.
People’s United Financial (NASDAQ:PBCT), Huntington Bancshares (NASDAQ:HBAN), Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) were among the biggest decliners.
Investor sentiment on risk was also bolstered by stronger-than-expected growth in durable goods orders, which raised expectations for a rebound in economic growth in the third quarter.
In economic news, U.S. durable goods orders in June, topped economists forecasts, raising expectations for a rebound in economic growth in the third quarter.
"This creates positive momentum for capital spending and overall GDP in the third quarter," Jefferies (NYSE:JEF) said.