Wall Street rises toward records as its momentum keeps rolling

NEW YORK — U.S. stocks are rising toward records Monday as Wall Street’s momentum keeps driving it upward.

The S&P 500 was 0.5% higher in early trading and on track to top its all-time high set on Wednesday. It’s coming off its 10th winning week in the last 12, lifted in large part by expectations that inflation is slowing enough to convince the Federal Reserve to ease interest rates soon.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 273 points, or 0.7%, and also on pace for a record, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, while the Nasdaq composite was 0.6% higher.

Some of the market’s best-performing areas were ones that do best when former President Donald Trump’s chances for reelection look better. Trump Media & Technology Group, the company behind Trump’s Truth Social platform, soared 36.6%. Bitcoin rose back above $62,000 after Trump, who has portrayed himself as a crypto-friendly candidate, survived an assassination attempt over the weekend.

Trump could get a reactionary bump in his support in polls, as President Ronald Regan did in 1981, according to Isaac Boltanksy, director of policy research at BTIG, and “Trump’s defiance following the attack could be the defining image of this election cycle.”

Yields for longer-term Treasurys also pushed higher than shorter-term ones, and the 10-year Treasury yield climbed to 4.21% from 4.19% late Friday. Something similar happened after last month’s debate between Trump and President Joe Biden, when traders made moves in anticipation of a Republican sweep in November that could yield policies that would further raise the U.S. government’s debt.

Stocks of big financial companies, which could benefit from a lighter regulatory touch from a Republican administration, were mixed following their latest earnings results.

Investment bank Goldman Sachs rose 1.5% after reporting stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. BlackRock, the asset manager behind the iShares exchange-traded funds, slipped 0.2% after topping forecasts for profit but coming up a bit shy for revenue.

Expectations are high coming into this earnings reporting season, which unofficially got underway last week. Analysts are expecting companies in the S&P 500 to deliver growth of 9.3% from a year earlier, according to FactSet. That would be the strongest growth in more than two years.

Such forecasts have been one of the forces pushing U.S. stocks toward records. So have encouraging reports on inflation, which have shown enough of a slowdown for much of Wall Street to expect the Federal Reserve will begin cutting its main interest rate in September.

For roughly a year, the Fed has been keeping its main interest rate at the highest level in more than two decades. Lower interest rates would release pressure that’s built up on the economy because of how expensive it’s become to borrow money to buy houses, cars, or anything on credit cards. Fed officials, though, have been saying they want to see “more good data” on inflation before making a move.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will be speaking later in the day at the Economic Club of Washington on Monday.

On Wall Street, U.S.-listed shares of Burberry skidded 17.9% after the British luxury fashion house said it has appointed Joshua Schulman, formerly head of Michael Kors and Coach, as its new chief executive officer. Schulman, 52, replaces Jonathan Akeroyd.

The unexpected announcement came as Burberry said its first-quarter revenue was down 21% and it suspended its dividend.

In stock markets abroad, Chinese indexes were mixed after China reported that its economy expanded at a slower-than-expected pace in the latest quarter as its ruling Communist Party opened a once-a-decade policy-setting meeting.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.5%, while stocks in Shanghai added 0.1%.

Indexes were mostly lower in Europe.

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AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.