Equities rallied higher on Monday ahead of an important week of earnings reports. The Nasdaq led with an advance of 0.70 percent as Apple (AAPL) and Microsoft (MSFT) rose 2.29 percent and 1.32 percent, respectively. SPDR Technology (XLK) gained 1.15 percent on the day. The energy sector rallied due to geopolitical tensions. SPDR Energy (XLE) increased 0.48 percent.
Existing home sales for June are out on Tuesday. Analysts expect a number in line with May’s 5.34 million. New homes sales are projected to hit 640,000, up from 626,000 in May.
Flash PMIs for July will gain extra attention after the manufacturing PMIs slipped in June. Similar surveys created by the Federal Reserve also dipped in June but have rebounded higher in July. Overseas PMIs will also be watched closely, particularly Germany which has been reporting a PMI below 50 for several months.
The gross domestic product for the second quarter will be announced on Friday. Economists predict 2.1 percent growth. The New York and Atlanta Fed’s GDP models forecast less than 2 percent, while the St. Louis Fed’s latest prediction is 2.9 percent.
Earnings will dominate the week with dozens of mega-cap stocks reporting. Halliburton (HAL) was a positive note for the beleaguered energy services sector with an earnings beat.
Visa (V), Coca-Cola (KO), Texas Instruments (TXN), Biogen (BIIB), Lockheed Martin (LMT), United Technologies (UTX) and Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG) headline Tuesday earnings.
On Wednesday, investors will hear from Boeing (BA), Facebook (FB), Tesla (TSLA), AT&T (T), Caterpillar (CAT), Paypal (PYPL), Service Now (NOW), Freeport-McMoRan (FCX), United Parcel Service (UPS) and Ford Motor (F).
Thursday after the bell delivers a trio of tech giants: Amazon (AMZN), Alphabet (GOOGL) and Intel (INTC). Starbucks (SBUX), Comcast (CMCSA), Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY), Raytheon (RTN) and 3M (MMM) also report.
The week ends with Abbvie (ABBV), McDonald’s (MCD), Phillips 66 (PSX), Twitter (TWTR), Illinois Tool Works (ITW), Colgate-Palmolive (CL) and Charter Communications (CHTR).