Trade concerns took a back seat to start Monday’s trading session as the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 250 points with investors eyeing earnings season as a possible catalyst for the boost in the markets today.
Citigroup, J.P. Morgan and Wells Fargo are scheduled to release second quarter earnings on Friday. Overall, the financial sector was up 1.72 percent.
“The fact that we’re heading into the earnings season is a catalyst for stocks,” said Randy Frederick, vice president of trading and derivatives at the Schwab Center for Financial Research. “We’re expecting it to be strong and maybe even stronger than the previous one.”
For once, the talk of trade wars fell to the wayside despite the official start of tariffs on $34 billion worth of China goods imposed by the United States took effect last week. Market gainers leading the way for the Dow include Caterpillar–up 3.5 percent, JPMorgan Chase & Co–up 2.6 percent and Goldman Sachs Group–up 2.1 percent as of 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time.