-- The S&P 500 closed higher Monday, with Tesla and Apple leading the charge as quarterly earnings season continues to roll on just a day ahead of the latest Federal Reserve meeting.
At 16:00 ET (20:00 GMT), the rose 0.3%, and added 0.4%, the rose 0.4%, or 146 points.
Tesla leads consumer stocks higher
Tesla (NASDAQ:) stock soared 15% after the EV giant reportedly received tentative approval from Beijing to launch its driver assistance software in China, leveraging mapping and navigation technology from Chinese tech giant Baidu (NASDAQ:), according to multiple media reports.
The milestone marked further signs of the company's efforts to increase adoption of its sticky self-driving software, which many on Wall Street believe forms a key part of the EV maker's growth story.
"While demand challenges exist in China for Tesla, the Street is looking through this painful transition period for the long term growth story to emerge for Musk & Co. with FSD a key ingredient in that recipe for success," Wedbush said in a note.
As well as Tesla, Domino's Pizza (NYSE:), up 5%, also lifted consumer stocks after the pizza chain reported better-than-expected first-quarter sales estimates, driven by a 6% increase in same store sales as customers made use of the company’s loyalty programs.
Treasury yields off lows as U.S. Treasury looks to borrow more than expected in April-June quarter
The Treasury Department raised its net borrowing estimate for the April through June quarter to $243 billion, up from the $202 billion amount it had forecast in late January, driven by lower cash receipts.
The larger than expected funding requirements for the quarter, pointing to more bond sales than expected, pressured Treasuries and pushed yields up off the lows of the day.
Earnings season continues; Apple jumps on Bernstein upgrade
SoFi Technologies (NASDAQ:) stock fell over 10% after the personal finance company issued a disappointing second-quarter forecast, even after posting better-than-expected revenue and income last quarter, fueled largely by its financial-services and technology platform segments.
Amazon (NASDAQ:), Coca-Cola (NYSE:), Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:) and Eli Lilly (NYSE:) will report earnings on Tuesday.
Apple Inc (NASDAQ:) rose more than 2% after Bernstein upgraded the tech giant to outperform from market perform, saying in China-led demand weakness was overdone.
Fed 'Hawkish' Meeting Ahead
The is set to kick off its two-day meeting on Tuesday that is widely expected to culminate in an unchanged decision on interest rates. Many on Wall Street will be focus on remarks from Fed chairman Jerome Powell amid fears of a more hawkish Fed chief.
"The statement language is likely to be altered in a hawkish direction, reflecting economic developments in recent weeks, particularly the strong inflation readings for March," Macquarie said in a Monday note.
(Peter Nurse, Ambar Warrick contributed to this article.)
