Stocks jump to new records at the open; Tesla weighed by Musk pledge

Stocks on Monday extended a record-setting streak of gains on Wall Street, opening at new highs as traders looked ahead to a slew of new inflation data and earnings results in the coming days.

At the opening bell, the Dow, S&P 500 Index and Nasdaq all notched fresh highs, carried by last week’s momentum when all three major indexes jumped to their best levels ever. Optimism over a batch of strong corporate profit reports, a better-than-anticipated October jobs report and a Federal Reserve decision that matched investors’ expectations are providing impetus to risk-sensitive assets. 

Meanwhile, Bitcoin prices led a broad crypto rally, with the leading digital coin jumping within view of a record high. However, Tesla (TSLA) dropped by more than 6% on the day, after CEO Elon Musk confounded investors by vowing to sell 10% of his holdings based on the outcome of a Twitter poll, which kept a lid on tech stocks.

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This week, companies including Disney (DIS), PayPal (PYPL) and Coinbase (COIN) are set to deliver quarterly earnings results, with traders hoping that these and other companies’ results will extend a streak of solid earnings growth heading into the holiday season. So far, 89% of S&P 500 companies have reported third-quarter results, and 81% of these exceeded Wall Street’s estimates for earnings per share, according to FactSet data. The expected year-on-year earnings growth rate has crept higher to 39.1%, which would mark the third-fastest pace for earnings growth in the index since 2010. 

On the economic data front, inflation reports will be especially closely monitored. Wednesday’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) from the Bureau of Labor Statistics is expected to show another acceleration in consumer prices on both a monthly and annual basis for last month, as ongoing supply chain challenges and labor shortages across the recovering economy contribute to rising prices. Estimates as of Monday showed that consensus economists expect to see the CPI rise by 5.9% in October compared to last year, accelerating from September’s 5.4% annual rate to reach the fastest rise since 1990. 

“We continue to expect that a normalization of demand and supply constraints over time will take pressure off inflation statistics,” Rubeela Farooqi, chief economist for High Frequency Economics, wrote in a note on Monday. “The exact timing is uncertain, given we cannot predict when supply chains will adjust.”

“However, our best guess is that prices will start moderating by the middle of next year — possibly sooner if goods that are stuck off ports reach their destinations in the early part of the year, which will result in an excess supply of goods after the holiday,” she added.  

Though the Federal Reserve has suggested that elevated inflation related to supply constraints will ultimately subside, market participants are still awaiting signs of easing. Data from Oxford Economics showed last week that supply chain pressures worsened in October after easing…