Stock market today: Dow notches gain to start second half; Tesla lifts Nasdaq

Investing.com -- U.S. stocks inched higher on a shortened day of trading in New York to start the second half of the year.

At 13:01 ET (17:01 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 10 points or less than 0.1%, while the S&P 500 was up 0.1% and the NASDAQ Composite was up 0.2%.

Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares jumped 6.9% after the electric vehicle maker beat expectations for second quarter deliveries. The stock has more than doubled this year.

Stocks start second half of 2023 on a positive note

Monday is the first trading day of the second half of 2023, after the three indexes notched gains on the last day of the first half of the year. The Nasdaq has risen nearly 32% so far this year, its best showing for the first half in decades.

This week comes to a slew of data on jobs, including the job openings report and the job report for June. Analysts expect the economy added 225,000 jobs last month.

Fed's July meeting comes into focus

Wednesday is also the day when the Federal Reserve releases the minutes of its last meeting when it decided to pause on interest rate increases after raising them 10 consecutive times to cool inflation. Last week’s inflation report showed prices cooling more than expected.

Futures traders see an 86% probability of the Fed raising rates when it meets later in July as it continues to push inflation to its 2% target. Despite cooling, inflation is running nearly twice that, at 3.8% according to last week’s annualized personal consumption expenditures index for May.

Stock trading ends early on Monday in New York

Monday’s trading was expected to be light ahead of the Independence Day holiday, when markets are closed in the U.S.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares were dipping 0.8% after last week’s rally above a $3 trillion market value for the first time.