Small gains lead to another record day

More positive earnings reports add momentum

Stocks closed with modest gains on Wall Street Monday, extending the major indexes’ recent record-setting run.

The S&P 500 rose 0.2 percent after spending much of the day wavering between small gains and losses. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.3 percent and the Nasdaq rose 0.6 percent. The gains pushed the three indexes above the all-time highs they set on Friday.

More than 65 percent of stocks in the S&P 500 rose, led by energy companies as the price of U.S. crude oil rose 0.6 percent, adding to a more than 75 percent gain so far this year. A mix of companies that rely on direct consumer spending for goods and services accounted for a big slice of the index’s gains. Tesla jumped 8.5 percent and Starbucks gained 3.5 percent.

Losses by technology, communication and health care companies kept the S&P 500’s gains in check. Microsoft, Google parent Alphabet and Unitedhealth Group all dropped.

Smaller company stocks far outpaced the broader market in a sign that investors were confident about economic growth.

The latest gains came as investors reviewed another batch of corporate quarterly report cards in what has so far been a better-than-expected earnings season, despite Wall Street’s concerns over the impact supply chain disruptions and higher inflation are having on companies.

“We’re starting to see corporate earnings come in and the fear was that you’d not have pricing power and you’d see that impact in margins,” said Tom Hainlin, national investment strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management. “But so far, we’re seeing companies either do one or both of two things: be able to raise prices and have consumers pay those prices or to use technology to improve efficiency to offset some of those input prices.”

The S&P 500 index rose 8.29 points to 4,613.67. The Dow gained 94.28 points to 35,913.64. The Nasdaq added 97.53 points to 15,595.92.

The broader market is coming off its best month in nearly a year, with the S&P 500 gaining 6.9 percent in October. The index, which stumbled in September with a 4.8 percent loss, is now up 22.8 percent for the year. Stocks have been gaining ground for weeks as investors monitored a steady flow of mostly encouraging corporate earnings.