S&P 500 rallies as tech shine ahead of busy earnings week

The S&P 500 jumped Monday, as investors continued to pile into tech stocks ahead of a busy week of earnings.

The S&P 500 rose 1.1%.

Apple Inc Led the run-up in big tech, rising more than 3%, followed by Meta Platforms, and Alphabet Microsoft Corporation, with them set to kick off earnings for tech on Tuesday.

Quarterly results from Microsoft, which announced a further investment in Open AI on Monday, are expected to reflect the impact of slowing demand, though recent cost-cutting measures including layoffs are expected to help.

Chip stocks also played a heavy role in the rally after Barclays delivered bullish remarks on the industry as demand from AI applications such as Chat GPT and the China reopening is expected to stoke demand.

The fourth-quarter reporting season has shifted into overdrive, with 57 of the companies in the S&P 500 having posted results. Of those, 63% have delivered better-than-expected earnings, according to Refinitiv.

Analysts now see S&P 500 fourth-quarter earnings, on aggregate, dropping 3% year-on-year, nearly twice as steep as the 1.6% annual drop seen at the beginning of the year, per Refinitiv.

The S&P 500 posted 11 new 52-week highs and no new lows.