Get 40% Off
🤯 This Tech Portfolio is up 29% YTD! Join Now to Get April’s Top PicksGet The Picks – Just 99 USD

S&P 500 Closes Just Below All-Time High as Investors Await Earnings

Published 04/12/2021, 03:25 PM
Updated 04/12/2021, 04:06 PM
© Reuters.

© Reuters.

By Yasin Ebrahim

Investing.com – The S&P 500 closed just below a record high Monday, but struggled for direction as investors awaited guidance from the start of quarterly earnings season this week. 

The S&P 500 fell 0.02%, to end the day just below its closing record of 4,128.80, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.16%, or 54 points, and the Nasdaq Composite was down 0.36%.

Cyclical corners of the market - barring energy - were in the ascendency, led by real estate, consumer discretionary and financials, with the latter coming under the spotlight as major banks report quarterly earnings this week.

Major Wall Street banks reporting include JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM), Citigroup (NYSE:C), Bank of America (NYSE:BAC), Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) and Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS).

Wall Street's outlook on quarterly earnings appears bullish, with cyclicals backed to show strong quarterly results.

"We anticipate S&P 500 Index earnings per share will grow by more than 30% this year with cyclical sectors such as industrials, consumer discretionary, materials, and financials leading the way," Wells Fargo said.

Energy stocks slipped on a retreat in oil prices from session highs as investors weighed up the progress on vaccinations against ongoing Covid-19 restrictions that threaten energy demand.  

Technology started the week on the backfoot stifled by weakness in chip stocks and mixed trading among the Fab 5.

Google-parent Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN), and Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) were in the red, while Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) was higher.

Microsoft said it will buy speech-recognition firm Nuance Communications (NASDAQ:NUAN) for $19.7 billion in a bid to boost its foray into healthcare.

"The Nuance deal is a strategic no brainer in our opinion for MSFT and fits like a glove into its healthcare endeavors at a time in which hospitals and doctors are embracing next generation AI capabilities from thought leaders such as Nuance," Wedbush said in a note.

In industrials, Boeing (NYSE:BA) was down almost 2% just days after the company urged 16 airline customers to ground its 737 Max jets, citing electrical issues. The issues, however, are not expected to cause major disruptions.

"Changing the equipment could take hours or days to fix, a modest disruption," Jefferies (NYSE:JEF) analyst Sheila Kahyaoglu said in a note Friday.

In other news, Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) jumped more than 3% after receiving an upgrade from Canaccord, citing a bullish outlook for the company's battery storage business.

Canaccord upgraded Tesla to buy from hold, and lifted its price on the company to $1,071 from $419 per share.  

Latest comments

LOL, 1st quarter earnings about to be released just as the market has reached some kind of high. Sounds like a little sell-off would not surprise anyone on the 13th of the month. That's what the 13th of the month is for: to launder out all kinds of excesses. -- Happy 13th everyone ;)
Bernie Maduff was an amateur compared to Powell and Goldman Sachs!
Brilliant!
Another criminal round of late day fraud, as losses are once again whisked away in the final hour.  Remarkable how "gains" don't vanish "in late trade."  The US Ponzi Scheme, greatest investment fraud in history, continues to financially defile America in broad daylight.
Well Said and so True (100%)
it's just a very very difficult game to play, especially if you are starting late. Balancing pressure of the market to play the game vs long term investing of your hard earned money.. lots of data crunching and time. Time over anything is the solution
I totally agree but if we accept it's never going down as long as the fed is bankrolling everything then why not just go a little bit long?
market due for biggest crash since 1929
lol.. that's funnyI'm making money in the bull market while you are saying non-sense here
the market was at 18000 (1) year ago. You mised out on the crash followed by the Trump V Recovery
lots of people made some good money on that V
Amazon closed green...
we all saw POWELL'S computer on cbs last night. dude literally watches SPY all day and pumps it to boost his own portfolio
Write trash , SP500 high now.
Risk Disclosure: Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.
© 2007-2024 - Fusion Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.