S&P 500, Nasdaq steady as investors eye Apple, Microsoft earnings

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq are near their record highs after opening on a positive note on Friday, with earnings for Apple and Microsoft on the agenda.

Stocks have largely taken an upbeat route in reaction to various market factors, including the wave of Wall Street earnings, tariffs and trade deals. In this case, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite have continued to march to record highs, where they remain as the week comes to a close. 

The benchmark index opened 0.18% up and is tracking over +4.5% for the month, and tech-heavy Nasdaq edged 0.03% on the day and 5% for the month. Nasdaq is eyeing a sixth-straight winning session.

While Tesla shares tanked after the company’s earnings miss, optimism remains high as the Dow Jones Industrial Average also moved higher. The Dow added 75 points in early trading on Friday and is tracking near 4% upside for the past 30 days.

As stocks eye further gains, Bitcoin (BTC) is struggling with sell-off pressure that saw its price fall to $115k.

Apple, Microsoft earnings next week

Wall Street’s positive week came amid wins, such as Google parent Alphabet’s revenue beat, which buoyed markets.

The U.S and Japan struck a trade deal, and President Donald Trump visited the Federal Reserve headquarters. However, Trump’s criticism of the Fed chair was also evident during the visit, with the issue of interest rates being a significant part of the broader picture.

Commenting on the Fed’s inflation fight and the U.S. central bank’s move not to cut rates over the last few months, Bill Eigen, JPMorgan Asset Management chief investment officer, suggested the Fed will eventually cut. However, they won’t be as aggressive and “zero rates are not walking through the door any time soon.”

Eigen was speaking to CNBC’s ‘Squawk Box’.

Stocks are bracing for a key week ahead.

A lot of what’s next for the Fed will be on the agenda when the agency holds its two-day policy meeting next week. Investors will also be keen on economic data with the monthly U.S. jobs report also on the release schedule. In the earnings corner, key quarterly results will feature Big Tech giants Apple (AAPL), Meta (META) and Microsoft (MSFT).

Aug. 1 deadline and U.S.-Japan deal in focus

On the tariffs front, the coming week includes Aug. 1, the date of Trump’s deadline for trading partners to have agreed trade deals with the United States. If not, “reciprocal” tariffs will become effective – which Trump recently said will be between 15% and 50%.

Related to this and likely to dent enthusiasm are reports that the U.S.-Japan trade deal faces pressure amid differences on the percentage of profit share. When announcing the deal, Trump said Japan will invest $550 billion in the U.S., with Washington keeping 90% of the profits on American soil. Japan reportedly sees it differently.