Stock market today: Dow ekes out win ahead of earnings from big tech

Investing.com -- The Dow eked out a gain Monday, as investors awaited further catalysts for direction just as the countdown to the moment of truth for big tech earnings due later this week gets underway.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.2%, or 66 points higher, the S&P 500 was up 0.1%, and the Nasdaq fell 0.3%.

Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOGL) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) are set to kick off a slew of earnings for big tech, which led the market melt-up seen in the first quarter of the year. Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ: META) reports on Wednesday, followed by Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) on Thursday.

Ahead of the flurry of quarterly reports, tech bulls on Wall Street continue to tout optimism.

“We reiterate our call from the beginning of the year that we believe tech stocks will be up 20%+ and still have nice upside this year with 1Q earnings season set to further calm Street demand fears,” Wedbush said in a note.

Still, investor sentiment on tech has been muddied in recent weeks as the prospect of a less hawkish than expected Federal Reserve dwindles ahead of the central bank’s rate decision on May 3.

"The rate market has moved to fully pricing in one more 25bps hike from the Fed in the current tightening cycle, and is now only fully pricing in one 25bps rate cut by the end of this year," MUFG said in a note.

Coca-Cola Co (NYSE: KO), meanwhile, ended the day just below the flatline despite reporting quarterly results that beat on both the top and bottom lines as higher prices offset rising costs.

Value sectors of the market, excluding financials, continued to shine, however, led by energy as oil prices racked up gains.

Halliburton Company (NYSE: HAL), Marathon Oil Corporation (NYSE: MRO) and Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE: XOM) were among the sector gainers, ahead of the latter's quarterly results later this week.

Ahead of Exxon Mobil's earnings due Friday, Goldman Sachs said that while it continues to expect strong operational momentum for the company, it recognizes that valuation is “looking less compelling after outperformance.”

Financials were trading below the flatline despite a rally in First Republic Bank (NYSE: FRC) ahead of the beleaguered bank’s first-quarterly results due after the market closes.

Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS), meanwhile, got its second round of layoffs underway, taking its total layoffs to about 4,000 for the year, still short of the 7,000 planned job cuts announced earlier this earlier.

In other news, Bed Bath&Beyond (NASDAQ: BBBY) filed for bankruptcy protection on Sunday after failing to secure enough funds to continue operations, sending its shares down 33%.

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