NEW YORK, April 28 (Reuters) – The S&P 500 closed a choppy session nearly unchanged on Monday, weighed down by megacaps as investors awaited several catalysts including key economic data and earnings from some of the largest U.S. companies.
Megacaps Nvidia (NVDA.O)
, opens new tab, off 2.1%, and Amazon (AMZN.O)
, opens new tab, down 0.7%, were the primary drags on the benchmark S&P 500 index and also kept the Nasdaq in negative territory.
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The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday that China’s Huawei Technologies was preparing to test its artificial-intelligence processor, which it hopes can replace some of Nvidia’s higher-end products.
Of the so-called Magnificent Seven heavyweight companies, Amazon is scheduled to report quarterly results later this week, along with Apple (AAPL.O)
, opens new tab, Meta Platforms (META.O)
, opens new tab and Microsoft (MSFT.O)
, opens new tab. Apple, up 0.4%, and Meta up 0.5%, both helped counter the declines in Nvidia and Amazon.
In all, 180 S&P 500 components are set to report earnings this week, and investors are likely to closely monitor how U.S. President Donald Trump’s new tariffs could affect future profits.
“We’re going to get four of the Mag 7 reporting this week and so this is a very important earnings week,” said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Cresset Capital in Chicago.
“I’d love to hear any kind of forward guidance and it will be really interesting to hear some of these CEOs talk about how they’re planning to navigate the potential trade war.”
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI)
, opens new tab rose 114.09 points, or 0.28%, to 40,227.59, the S&P 500 (.SPX)
, opens new tab gained 3.54 points, or 0.06%, to 5,528.75 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC)
, opens new tab lost 16.81 points, or 0.10%, to 17,366.13.
The slight gain for the S&P 500 marked its fifth straight daily advance, its longest streak of gains since early November.
Though first-quarter earnings from S&P 500 companies are expected to climb 10.9% from a year ago, according to LSEG data, many firms have warned of the uncertainty caused by U.S. trade policy, with some cutting or completely pulling forecasts.
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Of the 179 S&P companies that have reported, 78 had negative earnings outlooks and 32 had positive forecasts, for a 2.4 ratio, slightly below the 2.6 in the year-ago period, LSEG data showed.
Investors will also parse important economic data, including the personal consumption expenditures price index and a flurry of labor market data culminating in the monthly U.S. payrolls report on Friday.
A 2.4% gain in Boeing (BA.N)
, opens new tab shares helped keep the Dow in positive territory after Bernstein raised the aircraft maker’s stock rating and price target.
Trading was choppy after stocks opened firmer, with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq briefly touching their highest levels since April 2, prior to Trump’s tariff announcement.
Markets have stabilized somewhat in recent weeks on optimism over potential deals between the U.S. and its trading partners, especially China.
However, a lack of clarity on Sino-U.S. negotiations has kept the market sensitive to any developments. The S&P 500 (.SPX)
, opens new tab remains about 10% below its February record high as investors look for clues on the extent of any tariff damage.
A majority of economists polled by Reuters said the risks of the global economy slipping into recession this year were high.
Spirit AeroSystems (SPR.N)
, opens new tab shares advanced 2.6% after Airbus (AIR.PA)
, opens new tab reached a deal to take over some of the company’s plants.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.27-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P 500 posted three new 52-week highs and two new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 47 new highs and 53 new lows.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 17.05 billion shares, compared with the 19.26 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.
Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak, additional reporting by Lisa Mattackal and Purvi Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Richard Chang
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
