Wall Street ends higher as investors turn to earnings season

NEW YORK - The S&P 500 rose to end just short of a record high on July 10, as a blockbuster Nasdaq debut of South Korea’s SK Hynix fuelled optimism about memory-chip makers, while investors looked ahead to quarterly earnings season kicking off next week.

The artificial intelligence trade returned to the spotlight after SK Hynix ended 13 per cent above its offering price at US$170 in a high-profile US listing.

The semiconductor company raised over US$26 billion (S$33.6 billion) on July 9 by selling American Depositary Receipts priced at US$149 each.

US stocks added to gains after US President Donald Trump said that Iran had asked to continue talks and the US had agreed, but that the June ceasefire was “over.”

Attacks between the US and Iran this week revived concerns that high energy prices could fuel more inflation and force the Federal Reserve to hike interest rates.

Reports from big US banks will kick off the second-quarter earnings season next week. Analysts are expecting S&P 500 earnings to surge 24 per cent from a year earlier, with technology companies driving much of the growth, according to LSEG I/B/E/S.

“This is a high-bar quarter with a narrow margin of error,” said Terry Sandven, chief equity strategist at US Bank Wealth Management in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

“The banks will give us a good read on the underlying economic strength and what consumers and businesses are doing.”

Thanks to increased corporate profit estimates, the S&P 500 is trading at about 20 times expected earnings, down from an earnings multiple of 21 in late May, even though the benchmark is trading near record highs.

Chipmakers have been among the biggest beneficiaries of this year’s AI-driven rally, fuelled by expectations of heavy spending by hyperscalers. But concerns over stretched valuations and profit taking have recently injected volatility into the sector.

The S&P 500 climbed 0.42 per cent to end the session at 7,575.39 points. It remains down 0.45% from its June 2 record-high close.

The Nasdaq gained 0.29 per cent to 26,281.61 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.29 per cent to 52,637.01 points.