NEW YORK — Wall Street ticked further into record heights Monday, as a better-than-expected profit reporting season gets into higher gear.
The S&P 500 rose 21.58 points, or 0.5%, to 4,566.48 and surpassed its last record set Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also reached an all-time high after adding 64.13, or 0.2%, to 35,741.15. The Nasdaq composite picked up 136.51, or 0.9%, to 15,226.71.
Tesla jumped to the biggest gain in the S&P 500 after Hertz said it will buy 100,000 Model 3 vehicles for its fleet. The landmark deal for the electric vehicle industry sent Tesla up 12.7%, and because it’s one of the biggest stocks in the market, Tesla’s moves have an outsized effect on the S&P 500.
Stocks broadly have been pushing higher recently as companies turn in much stronger profit reports for the summer than analysts expected. With roughly one in four S&P 500 companies having reported, more are topping expectations than usual — and by a wider margin, according to FactSet.
S&P 500 companies so far have reported profits for the third quarter that were nearly 46% higher than year-ago levels. That has companies in the index on track to report overall growth of roughly 32.5%, according to FactSet. That compares with expectations for roughly 27% growth when the third quarter closed Sept. 30.
Several of the market’s most influential stocks are set to report their own profits in the upcoming week. That includes Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Google’s parent company, Alphabet. Because they’re the four biggest companies on Wall Street by market value, their stock movements have a huge effect on the S&P 500, even more than Tesla’s.
Facebook, the fifth-largest company in the S&P 500, gave its latest report after trading ended Monday. It’s been dealing with controversy over how much it favors making profits over harming its users, but its earnings nevertheless squeaked by Wall Street’s forecasts, though its revenue fell short.
