U.S. equities and stock exchange traded funds continued their forward march to start off another earnings-filled week, brushing off President Donald Trump’s comments on breaking up big banks.
The S&P 500 Index, along with related funds including the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSEArca: SPY), iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (NYSEArca: IVV) and Vanguard 500 Index (NYSEArca: VOO), were up 0.3% Monday.
First quarter earnings have been a supporting factor in maintaining momentum in what some fear is a pricey market. Looking ahead, Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) and Apple (NasdaqGS: AAPL) will report earnings Tuesday. American International Group (NYSE: AIG) and Facebook (NasdaqGS: FB) are set to reveal their results Wednesday and Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BKB.B) on Friday.
“We’re sort of stuck between risk-on and risk-off,” Mike Bailey, director of research at FBB Capital Partners, told the Wall Street Journal. Investors are “catching their breaths, waiting for the next catalyst.”
Weak economic data also kept a lid on market sentiment. Data revealed that ISM manufacturing activity index fell to its lowest level since December while consumer spending was unchanged for a second straight month in March and a key inflation measure saw its first monthly drop since 2001, reports Tanya Agrawal for Reuters.
“The economic data today is causing some investor nervousness ahead of the jobs report this Friday,” Matt Miskin, senior capital markets research analyst at John Hancock Investments, told Reuters. “While we’re starting the week of on a bit of weak economic news, the markets may turn back to corporate fundamentals as corporate earnings are still coming in strong.”
The markets were mostly positive, despite Trump’s musings on big banks. Trump told Bloomberg News that he was considering breaking up giant Wall Street Banks, according to Bloomberg.
Nevertheless, strong earnings and skepticism over Trump’s plans have kept markets going. S&P 500 companies are expected to report overall profits up 13.6% in the first quarter, the most since 2011, according to Thomson Reuters.
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