S&P 500, Nasdaq notch record highs with inflation data, earnings in focus
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Indexes up: Dow 0.70%, S&P 0.24%, Nasdaq 0.12%
Updated at 9:48 a.m. ET
By Lisa Pauline Mattackal and Ankika Biswas
July 8 (Reuters) - The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 hit record highs on Monday, while the Dow scaled a more than one-month high as investors awaited a key inflation report, Congressional testimony from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and the start of earnings season this week.
Expectations for interest-rate cuts as early as September received a boost after Friday's nonfarm payrolls report showed U.S. job growth slowed in June, the latest data to point to weakness in labor market conditions.
Investors, however, will seek aclearer picture of the Fed's likely monetary policy trajectory forthe rest of the year.
Traders now see a 74% chanceof a 25-basis-point cut in September, up from last week's 60%, while expecting an overall reduction of about 50 bps for the year, according to CME's FedWatch and LSEG data.
On the economicfront, this week'sconsumer and producer priceindex data will be closely watched to gauge whether price pressures are easing.
"The fact of the matter is the Fed has a dual mandate and their mandate is employment and inflation. Inflation is going down and unemployment is going up," said Thomas Hayes, chairman at Great Hill Capital LLC.
"They now have cover to make a cut when they want to and signs point toward September."
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaqclosed at all-time highs as megacap tech stocks such as Meta Platforms META.O and Microsoft MSFT.O touched record peaks.
However, megacaps including Alphabet GOOGL.O, Amazon.com AMZN.O and Meta Platforms META.O shed between 0.4% and 1.3%. Tesla TSLA.O fell 2.4% after jumping to its highest level this year on Friday.
Chip stocks Nvidia NVDA.O, Intel INTC.O, Marvell Technology MRVL.O, Advanced Micro Devices AMD.O and Qualcomm QCOM.O jumped between 1% and 5%, helping the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor Index .SOX gain 2%.
Major banks including Citigroup C.N, JPMorgan Chase JPM.N and Wells Fargo WFC.N are slated to kickoff the second-quarter earnings season on Friday. Their shares rose nearly 1% each on the day.
While the S&P 500 Financial Index .SPSY was the top sectoral gainer, Communication Services .SPLRCL was the biggest laggard.
The small-cap Russell 2000 .RUT gained nearly 1%.
Investors are focusing on earnings to see if a stratospheric jump in a handful of megacap stocks such as Nvidia can justify their pricey valuations.
Markets will also watch Powell's semi-annual testimony before U.S. Senateand House committees onJuly 9 and 10 closely, aswell as commentary from several other Fed officials through the week.
At 9:48 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was up 276.53 points, or 0.70%, at 39,652.40, the S&P 500 .SPX was up 13.11 points, or 0.24%, at 5,580.30, and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC was up 21.41 points, or 0.12%, at 18,374.17.
Paramount Global PARA.O reversed its premarket course and fell2.3% after Sunday's announcementof a merger with Skydance Media.
Planemaker Boeing BA.N gained 2.3% after agreeingto plead guilty to a criminalfraud conspiracy chargeand pay a fine of $243.6 million to resolve a U.S. Justice Department investigation into two fatal737 MAX crashes.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.10-to-1 ratio on the NYSE, andby a 2.10-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 17 new 52-week highs and onenew low, while the Nasdaq recorded 48 new highs and 36 new lows.
Reporting by Lisa Mattackal and Ankika Biswas in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva and Pooja Desai
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