Stock Market Today: Dow ends higher on tech gains as earnings season to heat up

Investing.com -- The Dow closed higher Monday, as investors ramped up bullish bets on big tech, shrugging off an ongoing climb in Treasury yields as attention shifts to a step up in pace of quarterly earnings expected this week.   

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.9% or 314 points, the Nasdaq gained 1.2%, and the S&P 500 rose 1%.

Big tech soaks up demand, but Apple weaker as iPhone 15 China sales disappoint

Big tech, excluding Apple, were on the front foot, led by Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Alphabet Inc Class A (NASDAQ:GOOGL) as investors shrugged of rising Treasury yields.

Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) cut the bulk of its losses to end flat after the stock was pressured by worries that sales of its iPhone 15 were lower in China in the earlier weeks after release, when compared to the iPhone 14, pointing to softer demand.

Sales of iPhone 15 fell by a double-digit percentage from its predecessor amid stiff competition from Huawei’s Mate 60 Pro, Jefferies said in a note.

Lululemon jumps ahead of S&P 500 entry

Lululemon Athletica Inc (NASDAQ:LULU) rose 10% as the athleisurewear maker is set to join the S&P 500 on Wednesday, replacing Activision.

“We look upon the addition of shares to the major index as a potential catalyst for incremental interest and buying,” Oppenheimer said in a recent note.

News Corp rises on activist investor interest

News (NASDAQ:NWS) rose 4% on media reports that activist investor Starboard Value has increased its stake in Rupert Murdoch's media company amid plans to implement strategic and governance changes to boost the share price.

Starboard Value recommended selling News Corp (NASDAQ:NWSA)'s digital real estate businesses, including Realtor.com, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Charles Schwab Q3 earnings top, but revenue falls short estimates

Charles Schwab Corp (NYSE:SCHW) reported mixed third-quarter results after revenue fell short of estimates, but the fall in deposits wasn’t as bad as feared.

Schwab’s Q3 bank deposits fell to $284.4 billion from $304.4 billion in the previous quarter.

Charles Schwab is down about 34% year to date, as the brokerage firm has suffered as client moves cash into high-yield products.

Charles Schwab earnings comes ahead of the further quarterly results this week from the remaining three major Wall Street banks including Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC), Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS), and Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS).  

Pfizer cuts guidance, but rallies on Jefferies' upgrade; COVID vaccine makers stumble

Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) was upgraded to Jefferies to buy from hold as the pharmaceutical giant’s plan to cut $3.5 billion costs is expected to bolster earnings. Its shares rose more than 3%.

Pfizer on Friday cut its full-year guidance on earnings and revenue after warning of $5.5 billion in write downs in Q3 related to lower-than-expected sales of its COVID-19 vaccine and treatment.

Covid vaccine related sales of about $1.6 billion made up less than 15% of Pfizer’s overall $12.73 billion revenue reported in the second quarter.

Other COVID vaccine makers including Pfizer's German partner BioNTech SE (NASDAQ:BNTX), Novavax Inc (NASDAQ:NVAX) and Moderna Inc (NASDAQ:MRNA) fell sharply on worries about slowing Covid vaccine related sales.

Cryptocurrency-related shares jump after Bitcoin rallies on fake spot ETF report

Coinbase Global Inc (NASDAQ:COIN), Riot Platforms (NASDAQ:RIOT), and MicroStrategy (NASDAQ:MSTR) were among a wave of crypto-related stocks that were up sharply, underpinned by a more than 5% jump in bitcoin after a false report that Blackrock (NYSE:BLK)'s application for a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund, or ETF, had received approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission.  

Bitcoin topped $30,000, but later pared back some gains to trade blow $29,000.