S&P 500 rises as defensive stocks shine ahead of big tech earnings
Investing.com — The S&P 500 climbed Friday led by a climb in defensive corners of the market including utilities as investors opted for caution ahead of quarterly results from big tech next week.
The S&P 500 rose 0.3%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2%, or 83 points, and Nasdaq was up 0.2%.
Chip stocks were pushed higher by a rally in Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM) that helped improve sentiment on chips, a day after Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing's (NYSE:TSM) outlook spooked chip investors.
The chipmaker warned of a 10% drop in sales on Thursday as a weaker global economy is expected to weigh on chip demand.
Big tech, traded flat to lower intraday, as investors looked ahead to quarterly results from Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) due Tuesday after the market closes.
Both tech behemoths are up sharply year-to-date, driven by optimism that demand for artificial intelligence will bolster future growth.
American Express (NYSE:AXP) reported mixed second-quarter results as earnings beat, but revenue missed as customers reined in spending on the firm’s credit cards. Its shares fell more than 3%.
AutoNation (NYSE:AN) slumped 11% as fears that easing car prices could hurt margins offset the automotive retailer’s second-quarter results that topped Wall Street estimates on both the top and bottom lines.
“Margin compression will continue, but won't reach the levels — certainly this year, in my opinion — that we saw pre-pandemic,” Mike Manley, AutoNation’s chief executive officer, said on an earnings call that followed the results.
In a sign of caution ahead of the big tech earnings and the Federal Reserve decision due next week, defensive corners of the market including utilities and health
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