U.S. stocks powered higher on Monday as strong earnings overshadowed continued uncertainty on tariffs and the White House’s pressure on the Federal Reserve.
The S&P 500 closed up 0.14%, and the Nasdaq rose 0.38%, paring gains after touching new all-time intraday highs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average reversed lower, slipping 19 points, or 0.04%.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury dropped 4.7 basis points to 4.384%. The U.S. dollar fell 0.55% against the euro and sank 0.97% against the yen. That’s after upper-house parliamentary elections in Japan were not as disastrous for Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s coalition as feared, though his future remains in doubt.
Gold jumped 1.52% to $3,409.50 per ounce. U.S. oil prices dipped 0.52% to $66.99 per barrel, and Brent crude lost 0.42% to $68.99.
Verizon helped the market after beating quarterly earnings forecasts and raising its profit outlook for the year. Shares of the telecom giant surged 4%.
That follows upbeat results last week from big banks like JPMorgan, which said U.S. consumers remain resilient despite headwinds from tariffs.
After the first week of this earnings season, 73% of companies have beaten per-share profit estimates, above the first-week average of 68%, according to Bank of America.
Other companies reporting this week include Tesla, Alphabet, Intel, Coca-Cola, Lockheed Martin, General Motors, RTX, Northrop Grumman, IBM, AT&T, Honeywell, and Union Pacific.
Meanwhile, Trump’s trade war and his war on the Fed are still hanging over the market.
On Monday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC that trade talks are moving along, adding that getting a good deal is more important than the timing of a deal. That could suggest the Aug. 1 deadline, when higher tariff rates are due to kick in, may be more flexible.
In the same interview, he also ramped up pressure on Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, who has resisted Trump’s calls to lower rates. Bessent said “the entire Federal Reserve institution” should be examined.
That’s after the White House accused Powell of mismanagement over the Fed headquarters renovation, while backing off suggestions he should be fired.
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