[New York Stock Market Briefing] Optimism for Q2 Earnings...S&P500 and Nasdaq Reach 'All-Time Highs' Again

FactSet: "More than 85% of major companies likely to surpass expectations"

The Nasdaq Composite Index and S&P 500 index hit new all-time highs once again as optimism spread over the second-quarter earnings of companies.

On the 21st (local time) at the New York Stock Exchange, the S&P 500 index finished trading at 6,305.60, up 0.14% from the previous session. The Nasdaq Composite Index also closed up 0.38% at 20,974.18, both setting new record highs. On the other hand, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which gathers blue-chip stocks, fell 0.04% to close at 44,323.07.

As the Q2 earnings season officially began, optimism surrounding Big Tech earnings scheduled from this week brought warmth to the market. According to FactSet, of the 62 S&P 500 index constituent companies that have reported Q2 earnings so far, more than 85% are estimated to have results exceeding analysts’ expectations.

Last week, major US banks exceeded expectations, and on this day, Verizon—the largest mobile carrier—also announced better-than-expected results, causing its stock price to rise by 4.04%.

Among major tech companies, Alphabet, which will be the first to announce its earnings on the 23rd, saw its stock price rise by 2.8%, while Tesla, reporting results on the same day, fell by 0.35%. Amazon was up 1.40%, and Meta rose by 1.23%. NVIDIA, which had repeatedly hit new highs, closed down 0.6% today.

Trump Media, the parent company of Truth Social, in which US President Donald Trump is a major shareholder, showed a strong gain of 3.11% following an announcement of a 20 trillion dollar acquisition of Bitcoin.

Key Trump administration officials reaffirmed August 1 as the deadline for tariff negotiations, but left room for additional talks.

Howard Lutnick, the US Secretary of Commerce, said in a CBS interview the previous day, "New tariffs will take effect on August 1, but even after that, countries can still negotiate with us." Scott Besant, the US Treasury Secretary, stated in a CNBC interview, "What matters more than quickly reaching deals with each country by August 1 is achieving high-quality agreements."

Reporter Jeongdong Noh, Hankyung.com dong2@hankyung.com