Stocks were mixed Monday following Wall Street’s third straight week of gains but the S&P 500 approached a record high as technology shares lifted the index.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 53 points, or 0.19%, to 27,879, the S&P 500 gained 0.38% to 3,385, above its all-time high, and the Nasdaq was up 0.92%, led by gains in Tesla (TSLA) – Get Report, Nvidia (NVDA) – Get Report and JD.com (JD) – Get Report.
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The Dow rose 1.8% last week and the S&P 500 gained 0.6%. The S&P 500 flirted much of last week with reaching an all-time high. The index has risen more than 50% since its pandemic lows in March.
Analysts at Goldman Sachs said they expect the S&P 500 to rise an additional 7% in 2020 to their target of 3,600.
But friction between the U.S. and China – the world’s two largest economies postponed a weekend meeting to discuss progress of their phase one trade agreement – continues to weigh on the minds of investors as do stalled coronavirus aid negotiations.
Retail earnings will be in focus this week with reports from Walmart (WMT) – Get Report, Home Depot (HD) – Get Report, Lowe’s (LOW) – Get Report, Kohl’s (KSS) – Get Report, Target (TGT) – Get Report and TJX Cos. (TJX) – Get Report.
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“While August is typically a slow one for the markets, this year is proving to be quite the exception. Market-watchers have been pointing to the narrowness of the market really since the pandemic began so it’s encouraging to see some breadth return in the form of industrials, financials, and energy – it’s not just a bull case for technology anymore,” said Chris Larkin, managing director of trading and investment product at E*Trade.
“And with major retailers reporting earnings this week we could glean some further insight on the consumer after retail sales took a tumble, though there’s still a lot of uncertainty as we start the week – with no clear sign on stimulus aid from Washington and strained U.S.-China tensions, Larkin added.