Big Tech Boosts Market Momentum: Dow, S&P & Nasdaq Soar as Earnings Week Kicks Off

US stocks rose on Monday, with fresh records for the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC)and S&P 500 (^GSPC) in sight as Wall Street began a busy week of Big Tech-highlighted earnings and eyed the continued risks around President Trump’s tariffs.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq gained more than 0.7% following last week’s record-setting rally in growth names.  The S&P 500 rose about 0.5%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average  climbed nearly 0.4%.

This week sees investor focus dominated by two topics: Clarity on US trade policy as the implementation of tariffs looms, and earnings from tech heavyweights as Wall Street eyes record-high market valuations.

Earnings season shifts into high gear this week with Alphabet (GOOG) and Tesla (TSLA) set to release updates on Wednesday — the first of the “Magnificent Seven” to report for the second quarter. Strong results could validate stretched valuations as the market’s focus on AI growth is once again attracting comparisons to historic tech bubbles.

On the trade front, the EU is said to be stepping up the scope of its retaliation if it fails to strike a trade pact with the US. The bloc is open to an unbalanced deal to break a talks deadlock before the Aug. 1 implementation of Trump’s tariffs, per Bloomberg. But Trump’s increasingly hardline stance and EU member opposition to concessions are denting hopes for an agreement.

Over the weekend, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick reaffirmed the White House’s August deadline for new tariffs, calling it a “hard stop” for compliance — before saying that he’s looking at continued conversation beyond that date.

Meanwhile, solid quarterly earnings results from Cleveland-Cliffs and Verizon Communication lifted those stocks. Cleveland-Cliffs’ second quarter financial report beat Wall Street’s projections as the steel producer got a boost from Trump’s tariffs. Also on Monday, Domino’s Pizza  reported sales ahead of expectations as new products drew buyers, helping offset the impact of tariff uncertainty.

Of the 59 S&P 500 companies that have already released results, 86% have outpaced Wall Street consensus estimates. That is a historically strong beat rate, albeit off modest expectations.

Needham analyst Laura Martin wrote in a note last week, raising her price target on the stock to $210 from $178, that “GOOGL’s Gemini should be one of the 2-4 biggest winners of the GenAI tech wave.”

Raising his own price target to $210 from $200, Bank of America’s Justin Post wrote on July 18 that advertisers’ spending with Google Search grew despite growing fears that AI chatbots could displace the tech giant’s search engine.

“Our channel checks suggested Google ad spend growth was stable in 2Q, with monthly ad spending growth improving through 2Q. We think improving spend as 2Q progressed would be a positive given fears on growing AI competition.”

Meta rose 1.3%, while Apple climbed 1.1%. Amazon gained nearly 1%, while Nvidia and Microsoft  fell fractionally.

Meanwhile, Tesla , which also reports quarterly earnings Wednesday, fell nearly 0.3%