The Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 index, and Nasdaq Composite all set new highs on Monday, kicking out the week the same way it concluded the previous week. The new high comes as investors await Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s semiannual speech on Wednesday, as well as a slew of economic news throughout the week, signaling the unofficial start of corporate quarterly results.

Should investors believe a shift in the market narrative that accompanied a wild week for U.S. stocks?

What happened to stock benchmarks?
The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.36% gained 126.02 points, or 0.4 percent, to close at a new high of 34,996.18.

The S&

The Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, +0.21 percent gained 31.32 points, or 0.2 percent, to finish at a new high of 14,733.24, after hitting an intraday high of 14,761.08.
The Dow and S&P 500 both hit new highs on Friday, with weekly advances of approximately 0.2 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively. With a 0.4 percent weekly increase, the Nasdaq Composite ended the week at an all-time high. What was the market’s driving force? On Monday, major market indices set back-to-back closing records. The increase comes ahead of a number of major events later this week that might act as catalysts, including the unofficial start of earnings season, which JPMorgan Chase & Co. JPM, +1.43 percent will kick off on Tuesday, Powell’s speech on Capitol Hill, and new inflation data. “People are expecting strong earnings, which could propel the market higher,” said John Carey, director of Equity Income at Amundi U.S., adding that, for the time being, earnings have overshadowed uncertainty in Washington over planned infrastructure spending and the possibility of higher corporate taxes. “The majority of people appear to be focused on the economy’s resilience and the likelihood of improved earnings to maintain stock values, which are clearly at high levels,” Carey told MarketWatch. Last week’s turmoil in the equity markets was followed by a flourish, aided in part by a decline in Treasury yields. Lower-bound rates on government debt had aroused concerns about the economy’s prospects in the aftermath of the pandemic. The proliferation of the delta variant of COVID-19 has become a source of concern, as have the exorbitant valuations attributed to some market segments. Some of the choppy trading has been attributed to concerns about the Fed’s monetary policy in the face of mounting evidence of brewing inflation. On Monday, 10-year Treasury yields TMUBMUSD10Y, 1.365 percent increased by less than a basis point to 1.362 percent, while 30-year Treasury yields TMUBMUSD30Y, 2.000 percent increased by 1.2 basis points to 1.993 percent, near lows last seen in February. President John Williams of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York told reporters on Monday that prerequisites for the bank’s $120 billion-per-month bond-buying stimulus program have yet to be met. Although concerns about inflation and peak growth continue to circulate and scare Americans, some analysts believe those issues are “over-hyped” for markets. In a Monday letter, Glenmede’s team led by Jason Pride and Michael Reynolds wrote, “Both the earlier inflation concerns and the present peak growth fears are likely over-extrapolated projections of near-term patterns that will not remain.” “Markets may remain volatile as they respond to the quickly changing information flow during the continuing recovery from the pandemic,” but such factors “should not impact markets in the long run.” Also see: Inflation in the United States isn’t going away anytime soon. Here’s why delta-driven COVID infections have piqued the interest of investors. With 33.85 million COVID cases and 607,156 deaths, the United States leads the world. Dr. Anthony Fauci stated on Monday that booster shots aren’t necessary for the time being, but during a CNN interview on Sunday, he claimed it was “horrifying” to see conservatives cheering for low vaccination rates, blaming “ideological rigidity” for stalling the pandemic fight. Ben May, Oxford Economics’ head of global macro research, stated Monday, “We have long cautioned that vaccinations would be unlikely to induce a seamless return to normalcy.” On Monday, no significant data was scheduled ahead of a busy week of economic reports, which begins on Tuesday with a measurement of consumer prices. Separately, investors were paying attention to meetings with G-20 finance ministers, who are attempting to analyze the potential consequences of a proposal for a global minimum tax. In a speech to European Union countries about overhauling the corporate tax code internationally, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said, “We need sustainable sources of revenue that do not rely on further taxing workers’ wages and exacerbating the economic disparities that we are all committed to reducing.” “We must halt the practice of corporations transferring capital income to low-tax nations and accounting gimmicks that allow them to avoid paying their fair share,” she said. Which businesses were the subject of the investigation?
Broadcom Inc. AVGO, +1.16 percent shares jumped 1.2 percent Monday after The Wall Street Journal reported that the chip and software giant is in talks to acquire SAS Institute Inc. in a deal for $15 billion to $20 billion.

A Delaware federal judge dismissed a Blix Inc. lawsuit, saying it failed to show how Apple impacted competition in the mobile operating system market. Apple Inc. AAPL, -0.42 percent shares declined 0.4 percent the next day.

Starting Aug. 3, L Brands Inc. LB, +4.16 percent will split into two publicly traded firms, with the Victoria’s Secret & Co. underwear unit trading under the ticker “VSCO” and the Bath & BodyWorks Inc. arm trading under the “BBWI” ticker.

GameStop Inc. GME, -1.04 percent shares fell 1% Monday after Ascendiant Capital Markets raised its 12-month price objective to $25 from $10, but the stock is still trading much below its $189.25 closing price.

Weber, the outdoor grill manufacturer, has filed to go public, nearly 50 years after its iconic dome-shaped grill was created. The ticker WEBR will be used to trade shares on the New York Stock Exchange.

Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc. (SPCE) has lost 17.3 percent of its value. It was the company’s biggest daily percent drop since March 16, 2020, a day after founder Richard Branson and five crew members successfully went into suborbital space on the VSS Unity rocket-powered spaceplane.

Couchbase Inc. is a company that provides a platform for people

On Monday, BASE, a database provider for enterprise applications, announced the details of its initial public offering, which will include 7 million shares priced at $20 to $23 each. Under the ticker ‘BASE,’ the company has applied to list on Nasdaq.

Moderna Inc. (MRNA) saw its stock rise 2.8 percent on Monday after the firm said it would supply Argentina with 20 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine.

SolarWinds Corp. (SWI) shares fell 1.8 percent Monday, despite the company’s strong second-quarter revenue forecast.
What happened to other assets?
The ICE U.S. Dollar Index DXY, which compares the currency to six major competitors, was up 0.1 percent.

Oil futures ended the day down on Monday, with the US benchmark CL00 CL.1, -0.51 percent finishing at $74.10 a barrel, down 0.6 percent. The price of gold GC00 fell 0.3 percent to $1,805.90 per ounce.

The Stoxx Europe 600 SXXP finished 0.7 percent higher in European markets on Monday, while London’s FTSE 100 UKX finished 0.05 percent higher.

On Monday, the Shanghai Composite SHCOMP surged 0.7 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index HSI rose 0.6 percent, and Japan’s Nikkei 225 NIK rose 2.3 percent in Asia./nRead More