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By Sinéad Carew
July 27 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes closed higher
on Monday as investors monitored progress in U.S. government
stimulus efforts along with rising U.S. COVID-19 cases and bet
on some of the market's most high-profile stocks ahead of
earnings reports.
Apple Inc AAPL.O , Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O , Facebook Inc
FB.O and Alphabet Inc GOOGL.O , all due to report earnings
this week, were among the top boosters of the S&P 500. The
technology-heavy Nasdaq outperformed the S&P and the Dow.
Netflix NFLX.O and Microsoft MSFT.O also gained, noted
John Augustine, chief investment officer at Huntington National
Bank in Columbus, Ohio, who said investors were buying stocks in
the group, which fell in recent sessions.
"When all six of them are higher they'll take markets with
them," said Augustine, adding that with the exception of
Facebook the so-called FAANG plus M stocks due to report have "a
low bar to step over to beat earnings estimates."
Unofficially, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose
116.26 points, or 0.44%, to 26,586.15, the S&P 500 .SPX gained
23.88 points, or 0.74%, to 3,239.51 and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC added 173.09 points, or 1.67%, to 10,536.27.
The biggest gainers the S&P's 11 major sectors were
technology .SPLRCT and materials .SPLRCM . Financials
.SPSY , utilities .SPLRCU and energy .SPNY lagged.
Investors also focused on government stimulus as U.S. Senate
Republicans raced to complete details of a $1 trillion
coronavirus aid proposal before enhanced unemployment benefits
expire on Friday. The aid proposal, which could involve a
reduction in emergency federal weekly unemployment benefits from
$600 to $200, would then need to be negotiated with Democrats.
Some investors worried whether the stimulus would provide
sufficient support for the economy. These concerns were
reflected in gains in assets viewed as safe havens such as the
big growth companies and gold XAU= , according to Kristina
Hooper, Chief Global Market Strategist at Invesco in New York.
"Today's story is about concerns that the economic recovery
will be slow and halting. That's from a combination of an
inability to bend the virus curve and what is shaping up to be a
small stimulus package that may not address all the needs being
created by this terrible crisis," said Hooper.
Trillions of dollars in fiscal and monetary stimulus have
been pivotal pushing the back S&P 500 closer to its February
record high.
On Monday, however as the world confronted the prospect of
rising COVID-19 infections, countries in Asia and Europe imposed
new restrictions.
In the United States, where infection rates have climbed
since June, two baseball games were canceled due to the virus
while President Donald Trump's national security adviser Robert
O'Brien was the most senior official to test positive.
Investors kept their eye on earnings, with 189 S&P 500
companies scheduled to report results this week. About 80% of
the 130 S&P 500 firms that have reported so far have beaten a
low bar of earnings estimates, according to IBES Refinitiv data.
Few expected any major announcement at a two-day Federal
Reserve meeting, but analysts said policymakers were likely to
lay the groundwork for more action later this year. Moderna Inc's MRNA.O shares rose after U.S. and company
officials said its COVID-19 vaccine may be ready for widespread
use by year-end, after the drugmaker announced it kicked off a
trial to demonstrate safety and effectiveness, which could be
the final hurdle prior to regulatory approval.