Stocks End Higher To Begin The Week As Earnings Season Ramps Up

Plus 5 Just-Added Strong Buys Stocks End Higher To Begin The Week As Earnings Season Ramps Up [Kevin Matras - EVP - Photo] Profit from the Pros By Kevin Matras Executive Vice President Stocks End Higher To Begin The Week As Earnings Season Ramps Up [Stocks End Higher To Begin The Week As Earnings Season Ramps Up]Image: Bigstock Stocks closed higher yesterday to start the week. Last week's better than expected inflation reports continue to lift stocks. While the consensus is still calling for the Fed to raise interest rates by another 25 basis points next week (July 26), there's a growing belief that they might just call it quits after that. Whether they stop, or still opt for one more in September, the easing inflation numbers clearly show we are near the end of the interest rate hike cycle. And that's bullish. Yesterday's Empire State Manufacturing Index also helped lift stocks with a better than expected print of 1.1 vs. estimates for -3.0. Today we'll get Retail Sales, Industrial Production, Business Inventories, and the Housing Market Index. And more earnings with varied names like Bank of America, Novartis, and Lockheed Martin on deck. Tomorrow we'll hear from Tesla, Netflix, and Goldman Sachs, to name a few. Between today and the rest of the week, we'll hear from over 250 companies. And that list expands to 984 next week as earnings season kicks into gear. Next week will be a busy one. In addition to earnings, and the Fed's FOMC announcement, we'll also see the special rebalancing of the Nasdaq-100 Index on July 24. Due to the heavy concentration of big-tech heavyweights like Microsoft, Apple, Nvidia, Amazon, Meta, Tesla, and Alphabet, which make up over 55% of the index, and which has catapulted the Nasdaq-100 to a 43.6% gain this year (even higher than the Nasdaq Composite's 36.1%, and the S&P 500's 17.8%), the index will go thru a special rebalancing to reduce the weights of the index's largest holdings and increase the weights of others. But this week will be plenty busy as well. Given last week's bullish inflation news, this week's earnings, and positioning ahead of next week's key events, traders should have their hands full. For now, the momentum is clearly on the side of the bulls. See you tomorrow, [Kevin Matras - Signature] Kevin Matras Executive Vice President, Zacks Investment Research [See Zacks' Top Stocks for Free]( Starting today, you can get instant access to the latest picks from our time-proven strategies which since 2000 have soared far above the market. 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