Nasdaq Index and S&P500: Tech Stocks Rally Today as Megacap Earnings Loom

Sector Performance: Communications and Tech Lead Gains

Most of the major sectors are showing green at the midsession, led by Communications Services, up a whopping 1.77%. Technology is a distant second at 1.01%. Materials are trading 0.77% higher, helped by a surge in gold to a record high above $5100. Consumer Staples, Energy and Consumer Discretionary are all lower.

From my viewpoint, it appears to be a stock picker’s day with investors perhaps positioning ahead of the megacap earnings reports on Wednesday. Doing the heavy lifting for the S&P 500 Index are Apple and Meta, both up over 2% each, Alphabet, Broadcom, and Microsoft rose over 1.5% each.

Megacap Earnings: AI Impact in Focus

The megacaps scheduled to report mid-week are Apple, Meta, Microsoft and Tesla. Investors want to see if the euphoria in this AI-driven rally actually had an impact on earnings results.

“This week’s lineup of megacap earnings should help shape sentiment around the AI trade and the still-struggling tech sector, but Wednesday’s Fed announcement will likely keep politics in the headlines,” said Chris Larkin at E*Trade from Morgan Stanley.

Of the 64 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings as of Friday, 79.7% beat analyst expectations, according to LSEG data via Reuters.

Market Movers: Winners and Losers

Today’s notable losers included Intel, which continued its slide with a 5% loss today on top of Friday’s 17% decline. Meanwhile, airline stocks are being impacted by the weather, which has caused mass disruptions. United Airlines is down 1.2%, while JetBlue lost 2.8%.