WALL STREET CLOSES HIGHER; NASDAQ SETS RECORD

Wall Street gained ground on Monday and surging technology shares pushed the Nasdaq to a record closing high, as promising trial results from potential COVID-19 vaccines helped investors look beyond spiraling new cases of the disease, Stephen Culp reported for Reuters on July 21, 2020.

Amazon.com Inc. and Microsoft Corp provided the biggest boosts to the Nasdaq and the S&P500, but industrials retreated, capping the Dow’s nominal gains.The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 8.92 points, or 0.03%, to 26,680.87, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 27.11 points, or 0.84%, to 3,251.84 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 263.90 points, or 2.51%, to 10,767.09.

Of the 11 major sectors in the S&P 500, consumer discretionary .SPLRCD and tech .SPLRCT enjoyed the largest percentage gains. Second-quarter earnings season chugged along. Some 48 companies in the S&P 500 have posted results, with 77.1% of those beating consensus, according to Refinitiv data.

In aggregate, analysts now expect S&P 500 second-quarter earnings to have dropped 43.2% year-on-year, per Refinitiv. Shares of Halliburton Co (HAL.N) rose 2.5% after the company posted a surprise adjusted quarterly profit and better-than-expected cash flow due to cost-cutting.