By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com – The Dow climbed Monday, on optimism over stimulus talks and an Apple-led tech rally ahead of the tech giant's slate of new iPhones expected to be unveiled on Tuesday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.01%, or 288 points. The S&P 500 was up 2%, while the Nasdaq Composite added 3.22%.
Tech, meanwhile, was among the biggest gainers, with Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) up more than 6% as Wall Street continued to talk up signs of the strong demand for the upcoming launch of 5G-enabled iPhones.
"We expect four models of iPhone 12 to be unveiled on Tuesday .. we are seeing Apple and its Asian suppliers anticipate stepped-up demand for the larger 6.7-inch model which is raising the overall iPhone 12 expectations heading into this 'once in a decade' potential launch," Wedbush said in a note.
Other tech stalwarts including Google and Facebook were also boosted by favorable comments from Wall Street.
Deutsche Bank (DE:DBKGn) lifted its price target on Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) to $325 from $305 and on Google-parent Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) to $2,020 from $1,975, sending both shares prices up more than 5%.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) added 3%, while Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) was up 6%.
The broader market was also pushed higher by a rise in financials as banks are set to kick off earnings season in earnest.
JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) and Citigroup (NYSE:C) report quarterly earnings before the opening bell on Tuesday. Ahead of the quarterly earnings, analysts estimates have improved as many expect robust trading activity to ease the impact of softer lending activity amid ultra-low interest rates.
FactSet estimates cumulative financial earnings to fall 19.4% in the third quarter from a year ago, marking an improvement from its forecast in June for a 34.4% decline.
Sentiment on stocks was also supported by ongoing hopes U.S. lawmakers will agree on a skinny stimulus package that could include support for Americans, small businesses, and the aviation industry.
Trump called on Republicans to fast-track the approval of his Supreme Court nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett to shift the focus on a stimulus package.
The White House Friday upped its coronavirus stimulus offer by $400 billion to $1.8 trillion, short of the Democrats' $2.2 trillion proposal. Senate Republics expressed concerns about the size of deal, while Democrats deemed it insufficient.
Energy lagged the broader move higher as oil prices fell after concerns about oversupply resurfaced after Libya announced over the weekend it would be ramping up production.
In deal news, Twilio (NYSE:TWLO) added 8% to a 52-week high intraday after it announced a deal to acquire customer data infrastructure company Segment for $3.2 billion in shares.