Wall Street hangs at record heights ahead of inflation report
World Business News - POSTED: 2024/02/12 16:48
World Business News - POSTED: 2024/02/12 16:48
Wall Street is drifting a bit higher Monday following its latest record-setting week.
The S&P 500 was up 0.2% in midday trading after closing Friday above the 5,000 level for the first time, its latest milestone in a record-setting run that began in October. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 57 points, or 0.1%, as of 11 a.m. Eastern time. The Nasdaq composite was 0.4% higher to pull within 0.1% of its record set in 2021.
Conditions are calm across markets, with yields also moving relatively little in the bond market. The next big event for the market could be Tuesday’s update on inflation across the United States, which economists expect to show a drop back below the 3% level.
In the meantime, Diamondback Energy climbed 10% after it said it would buy Endeavor Energy Resources in a deal valued at roughly $26 billion, including Endeavor’s debt. Diamondback is using both cash and stock to pay for the purchase of the privately held exploration and production company.
Trimble rose 4.8% after the technology provider reported stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The company, whose products are used in the construction, mapping and other industries, shook off an earlier loss after it also gave a forecast for revenue over 2024 that fell short of Wall Street’s estimates.
Big companies in the S&P 500 have mostly been reporting better results than expected for the final three months of 2023. More than two thirds of the companies in the index have already reported their results, but several big names are still to come this upcoming week. They include Coca-Cola on Tuesday, Kraft Heinz on Wednesday and Southern Co. on Thursday.
The smallest companies in the market, meanwhile, are still in the relatively early days of their profit reporting season. But they’ve been beating analysts’ expectations by even more than their big rivals, according to Bank of America strategists.
Worries have grown about how top-heavy the stock market has become, where the seven biggest companies have accounted for a disproportionate amount of the S&P 500’s rally to a record. If more companies aside from the group known as the “Magnificent Seven” can deliver strong profit growth, it could soften the criticism that the market has become too expensive.