U.S. markets and stock exchange traded funds retreat as investors wait on further corporate earnings cues to support the record-setting equities rally.
On Monday, the Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ: QQQ) fell 1.2%, SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (NYSEArca: DIA) was down 0.5%, and iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (NYSEArca: IVV) was 0.7% lower.
“After a big move, you get a pause of breath and a bit of a reassessment,” Caroline Simmons, U.K. chief investment officer at UBS Asset Management, told the Wall Street Journal. “People are reassessing, waiting for news flow that might indicate that growth and inflation remain on track.”
According to Refinitiv IBES data, analysts anticipate first-quarter earnings for S&P 500 companies to rise 30.9% year-over-year, Reuters reports.
Doug Peta, chief U.S. investment strategist at BCA Research, argued that the U.S. economy is expected to gain momentum after consumers accumulated $2 trillion in savings in excess of what they held before the pandemic, leaving a lot of spending power to fuel the growth ahead.
“If indeed we do keep grinding higher that would be healthy, that would suggest that the grinding higher is sustainable,” Peta told Reuters. “The pullbacks along the way are healthy.”
International Business Machines is expected to report first quarter results after the close. Other big names like Procter & Gamble, Netflix, and Lockheed Martin are scheduled to post results later this week.
“I expect the earnings picture is going to remain very buoyant across the picture and for the momentum to stay very positive,” Fahad Kamal, chief investment officer of Kleinwort Hambros, told the WSJ. “As long as earnings meet what are very heightened expectations, the rally can keep going.”
Dragging on both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq on Monday, Tesla shares retreated after a Tesla vehicle believed to be operating on autopilot crashed into a tree Saturday, killing two occupants.
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