NEW YORK (AP) โ Much of Wall Street is rising Monday, ahead of a week packed with reports that could weigh on the market toward the end.
The S&P 500 rose 0.5% in morning trading, following its first week of losses in the last 10. The Nasdaq Composite rose 1.1%, as of 10:45 a.m. ET, while the Average Dow Jones Industrial Average lagged the market with a loss of 57 points, or 0.2%.
Boeing was dragging the Dow Jones lower in early trading after one of its planes suffered an explosion during a flight over Oregon. It fell 7.1%. Spirit Aerosystems, which makes airframes and other parts for Boeing, lost 9.2%.
Shares of oil and gas companies were also weighing heavily after Saudi Arabia hinted at potentially weak demand for crude. Exxon Mobil fell 2.9% and Halliburton lost 4.5% while oil prices fell about 4%. .
But much of the rest of Wall Street was holding up better as easing Treasury yields eased pressure on the stock market.
Big tech stocks, which are getting some of the biggest boosts from lower yields, helped lead the way. A 4.7% gain for Nvidia and a 1.3% rise for Apple were two of the strongest forces driving the S&P 500 higher.
Commercial Metals Co. also rose 7.3% after reporting stronger final-quarter earnings than analysts expected. He said construction activity is healthy in North America, boosting demand for steel and helping to offset weaker conditions in Europe.
More earnings results are coming at the end of the week: Delta Air Lines, JPMorgan Chase and UnitedHealth Group are among those Friday to kick off the S&P 500 reporting season for the final three months of 2023.
The highlight of the week may be Thursday's release of the latest inflation data for US consumers. A cooldown there has ignited hope on Wall Street that the Federal Reserve will soon see enough improvement to not only halt its interest rate hikes but also begin cutting them.
The Federal Reserve has already raised its main interest rate to the highest level since 2001, hurting the economy and hurting investment prices, in hopes of beating high inflation. The Federal Reserve said last month it has seen improvement and Wall Street's expectation is that it will begin cutting rates as soon as March.
Treasury yields have already plunged in the bond market on such expectations, and dipped slightly on Monday. The 10-year Treasury yield sank to 3.99% from 4.05% late Friday. It was above 5% during October, its highest point since 2007 and put strong downward pressure on the stock market.
The resulting rally in stocks took the S&P 500 close to its all-time high. But that strength also led some on Wall Street to say that at least a pause in stocks is likely in the near term. The market looks โextremely expensive,โ according to Lisa Shalett, chief investment officer at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management.
Critics also warn that Wall Street traders may be too optimistic about how deeply the Federal Reserve could cut rates this year. The Federal Reserve has indicated that three cuts could come in 2024, but many traders anticipate about twice as many. Such a high figure may not be likely unless a recession hits that forces the Federal Reserve, critics say.
That's why there's a lot of focus on corporate earnings, where growth could help prop up stock prices.
Analysts expect S&P 500 companies to post 1.3% growth in earnings per share for the fourth quarter of 2023 from a year ago, according to FactSet. Although this is a relatively small figure, it would mark only a second consecutive quarter of growth.
So far, the economy has remained resilient despite concerns that emerged last year about an impending recession. That has helped protect companies' income. But its costs have also increased with inflation still high throughout the economy, which has reduced its profits.
Helen of Troy, the company behind brands such as Hydro Flask, Osprey and Drybar, rose 4% after reporting earnings for its latest fiscal quarter that were stronger than analysts expected. Incoming chief executive Noel Geoffroy said the company did better than expected despite "what remains a challenging macroeconomic environment".
Elsewhere on Wall Street, fallout from the weekend explosion of an Alaska Airlines Boeing plane spread. Alaska Air Group sank 2.1%. United Airlines, which flies the same Boeing model and also had to cancel flights due to its grounding, opened lower and swung several times before rising 1.7%.
In foreign stock markets the indices were mixed. Hong Kong's Hang Seng sank 1.9%, led by losses in property and technology stocks, while stocks fell 1.4% in Shanghai.
Real estate stocks plunged after Zhongzhi Enterprise Group, a major lender to property developers, filed for bankruptcy in Beijing. China on Sunday also announced sanctions against five defense-related US companies in response to US arms sales to Taiwan and US sanctions on Chinese companies and individuals.
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AP writers Zimo Zhong and Matt Ott contributed.
