By Lisa Pauline Mattackal and Purvi Agarwal
(Reuters) -The S&P 500 and the Dow inched higher in choppy trading on Monday as investors braced for a week packed with key economic data and earnings from some of Wall Street’s biggest companies, while U.S. trade policy developments remained in focus.
Investors were watching company earnings and executive comments for indications on how U.S. President Donald Trump’s new tariffs could impact their outlook.
The spotlight will be on “Magnificent Seven” megacaps including Apple and Meta Platforms as 180 S&P 500 companies prepare to report results this week.
Big tech companies can continue to beat earnings expectations as they are more resistant to tariffs, said Phil Blancato, CEO of Ladenburg Thalmann Asset Management.
“Are you going to tell somebody to not use a Microsoft operating system at this point because of a tariff? That’s highly unlikely.”
So far, earnings season has been somewhat upbeat, with S&P 500 earnings now expected to climb 9.7% in the first quarter from a year ago, according to LSEG IBES.
At 09:40 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 242.03 points, or 0.60%, to 40,355.53, the S&P 500 gained 10.25 points, or 0.19%, to 5,535.46 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 18.67 points, or 0.11%, to 17,364.27.
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were trading at their highest levels since April 2.
Gains in Boeing after Bernstein’s rating upgrade lifted the Dow, while a decline of 2% in Nvidia weighed on the Nasdaq.
A report said China’s Huawei Technologies was preparing to test its artificial-intelligence processor, hoping to replace some of Nvidia’s products.
Many companies have flagged the uncertainty caused by changes in the U.S. administration’s trade policy, with some cutting or pulling annual forecasts.
Signs that the U.S. and China could be willing to de-escalate trade tensions had injected some optimism in markets last week, with the three main indexes ending Friday with weekly gains, while the small-cap Russell 2000 marked its best week since November.
However, competing claims on the state of negotiations from Beijing and Trump kept uncertainty elevated.
“The market really just continues in this game of trying to figure out what’s next for President Trump and trade negotiations,” said Blancato.
Crucial economic data, including the monthly U.S. payrolls data and the personal consumption expenditures price index, is also on the roster.
The S&P 500 has declined more than 4% since the presidential elections in November, and fallen around 10% from its February record high as markets assess the potential impact of tariffs.
A majority of economists polled by Reuters said the risks of the global economy slipping into recession this year were high.
Web browser developer Opera’s U.S.-listed shares jumped 8.6% after the company lifted its annual revenue forecast.
Spirit AeroSystems rose 2.7% after Airbus reached a deal to take over some of the company’s plants.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.24-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.68-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P 500 posted 3 new 52-week highs and no new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 19 new highs and 12 new lows.
(Reporting by Lisa Mattackal and Purvi Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)
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