Wall St. hits record peak in earnings excitement; Fed meeting in focus

Shares of Under Armor Inc. rose 15.5% after the athletic apparel maker raised its annual revenue and profit forecast.

Arista Networks rose 19.9% ​​to hit a new peak after the brokerage raised its price target on the cloud infrastructure supplier’s stock after strong third-quarter results.

Simon Property Group added 5% after the mall operator raised its 2021 forecast for profit and quarterly dividends.

The economy-sensitive Dow Jones Transportation Index rose 5.5% to an all-time high, lifted by an 88.6% rise in shares of car-rental firm Avis Budget.

Of the 11 major S&P sectors, seven advanced, with technology growing the most.

Mega-cap technology names Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Google-owner Alphabet Inc. to help offset a 3.2% drop in Tesla Inc. shares.

Tesla’s top boss Elon Musk said the electric carmaker has not signed a contract with Hertz.

“The interest is high for most FAANG stocks and indeed the technology as a whole and investors are more interested in selling these names for a profit than they are for it,” said Rick Meckler, partner at Cherry Lane Investments in New Jersey.

The spotlight is now on the Fed’s policy meeting starting Tuesday, with the US central bank expected to approve a plan to reduce its monthly bond purchases, while also focusing on commentary about interest rates and inflation. How long is the recent surge?

Michael Sheldon said, “The economy is in much better shape today and with inflation at current levels we don’t need such amount of accommodative policies and a taper in turn will signal to the market that the economy is doing better.” Chief Investment Officer at RDM Financial Group at Hightower in Westport, Connecticut.

“However, risks to the markets will arise next year and if inflation remains high for a longer period it will make the Fed more aggressive or push the timetable for rate hikes, which could lead to some volatility in the markets. “

An unprecedented amount of monetary and policy stimulus has helped Wall Street bounce back strongly from a pandemic-induced recession last year. Simultaneously, a massive uptick in the third quarter reporting season has also helped US stocks hit record highs this week.

At 12:00 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 95.92 points, or 0.27%, at 36,009.76, the S&P 500 was up 13.38 points, or 0.29%, at 4,627.05, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 26.37 points, or 0.17. %, at 15,622.28.

Pfizer Inc. gained 4.5% after the drugmaker raised its full-year sales forecast for the company’s COVID-19 vaccine to $36 billion.

There has been an increase in the number of issues declining to a 1.41-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and to a 1.44-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded 50 new 52-week highs and four new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 148 new highs and 28 new lows.

This story has been published without modification in text from a wire agency feed. Only the title has been changed.