US stocks advanced on Monday, paring last week’s slump, as chipmakers rebounded amid a deluge of earnings reports that will test whether Big Tech’s profits can match high expectations.
The S&P 500 Index was up 0.6% as of 9:35 a.m. in New York. The Nasdaq 100 Index climbed 1.3%, led by semiconductor companies, after its worst week in almost a month. The Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index, better known as the SOX, gained 3.1% after falling into a bear market on Friday.
Seven of the 11 sectors in the S&P 500 rose, led by gains in technology. A basket of the so-called Magnificent Seven companies rose 0.4%, driven by a 2% gain in Nvidia Corp. Chipmakers Advanced Micro Devices Inc., Intel Corp. and Micron Technology Inc. also rose as investors piled back into artificial intelligence stocks. Memory storage company Sandisk Corp. jumped 4.2% and chips and networking company Marvell Technology Inc. climbed 2.4%.
Beyond semiconductor makers, most of Big Tech rose, with Alphabet Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Tesla Inc. higher. While the economic calendar is sparse, more than 80 companies in the S&P 500 are slated to report results. Alphabet and Intel will give investors a clearer read on how artificial intelligence spending is reshaping the tech industry. Tesla reports Wednesday.
“Markets will want to see strong results and more signs of robust demand, but also evidence of restraint and a focus on stability and not a further doubling down on the current AI component spending war,” wrote Tom Essaye, founder of The Sevens Report newsletter.
The week also brings the first results from major automakers and industrial companies, testing whether the optimism that has pushed earnings estimates and forecasts higher this year is justified. S&P 500 earnings are now forecast to rise 26%, among the best readings ever outside of recoveries from major recessions, according to data compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence.
The popular Magnificent Seven stocks moniker is “no longer relevant” in assessing how to play the US AI trade, according to Citigroup Inc. strategists. The team led by Scott Chronert said investors should instead focus on a broader swath of equities that have been the dominant driver of both earnings and share-price gains in the S&P 500.
Elsewhere, the energy sector was the worst group in the S&P 500, slipping 0.4% after oil swung sharply between gains and losses in a fraught session as traders grappled with a barrage of headlines about the worsening Middle East conflict.
Among other individual stocks, Domino’s Pizza Inc. rose 7.7% after the restaurant chain reported second-quarter revenue that beat analyst estimates. Meantime, AMC Entertainment rallied 10% after the theater operator’s second-quarter earnings and revenue topped analysts’ expectations. And Fervo Energy rose 4.5% after Jefferies upgraded the stock to buy from hold following the stock’s recent pull-back from its IPO highs.
Fed officials are in a blackout period before their policy decision on June 29. US inflation data was tamer than expected in June, which led investors to lower bets on an interest-rate increase later this month. Even after Friday’s selloff, the S&P 500 is less than 2% below its all-time closing high to shake off inflation concerns and oil price volatility.
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