S&P 500 hits record high as tech rally continues By Investing.com

Investing.com — The S&P 500 hit a record high Monday, shrugging off a climb in Treasury yields as tech stocks continued to march higher amid ongoing Fed speak and flew of key economic data due later this week.  

At 14:27 ET (18:27 GMT), the rose 1% and had earlier hit an all time high of 5,488.82, rose 1.2% and the was up 220 points, or 0.6%,

Big tech continues march higher; Apples eyes Microsoft (NASDAQ:)’s crown

Big tech including Amazon (NASDAQ:), Microsoft, Apple (NASDAQ:) led the broader market gains, with the latter up more than 2% adding to recent gains as it seeks to usurp Microsoft as the most valuable follow its plans to push into artificial intelligence.   

The jump in tech lifted the value of both Apple and Microsoft to 3.35 trillion, with many talking up the chances of an ongoing tech bull run.

“In a nutshell, we believe this tech bull market has legs that will ultimately broaden out to the rest of software, consumer tech, cyber security, semis, and infrastructure over the next 12 to 18 months,” the Wedbush analysts said.

Fed speaker caution on rate cuts

Philadelphia Fed president Patrick Harker said Monday, he expects only rate cut if the economy progresses as expected as the current level of rates will likely push inflation lower and prevent upside inflation risk.      

“And if all of it happens to be as forecasted, I think one rate cut would be appropriate by year’s end,” Harker said, though added that two cuts or no cuts were also a possibility. 

“I see two cuts, or none, for this year as quite possible if the data break one way or another.”

The remarks come ahead of a day ahead  for May, with many keen to assess whether the consumer continues to show strength.  

There are several Fed officials due to speak this week, including New York Fed President , Minneapolis Fed President , San Francisco Fed President and Richmond Fed President . 

Earnings on deck; activist investor targets Autodesk; Gamestop slumps after shareholder meeting

Lennar (NYSE:), Kroger (NYSE:), Darden Restaurants (NYSE:) and CarMax (NYSE:) will report quarterly earnings this week.

Autodesk (NASDAQ:) rose 7% after the Wall Street Journal reported that activist investor Starboard Value has acquired a stake worth approximately $500 million in the design-software manufacturer,  and is now advocating for changes.

Video game retailer, and meme favorite, GameStop (NYSE:) stock fell 11% after the company failed to provide further information on its path ahead and instead, reiterated that plans to cut costs through store closures.  

AMC slumps on offering, Virgin Galactic nosedives on reverse stock split

AMC Networks (NASDAQ:) stock fell 30% after the entertainment company announced a $125 million convertible offering.

Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc (NYSE:) slumped 15% after its 1-for-20 reverse stock split took effect as the space company’s seeks to prompt up its share price, which has fallen more than 70% this year after the company temporarily shelved its spaceflight missions.