S&P 500 rises slightly at the open, UPS soars after strong earnings

U.S. stocks rose slightly on Tuesday as investors braced for a big batch of tech earnings.

The S&P 500 gained just 0.1%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average traded near the flatline. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite inched up 0.2%.

Shares of Tesla fell 3% even after the electric carmaker posted record net income of $438 million. Tesla also beat Wall Street’s earnings and revenue expectations handily, boosted by sales of bitcoin and regulatory credits. The shares have struggled this year, off by more than 18% from their record. Though the stock is still up 360% over the last 12 months.

UPS shares soared over 9% after earnings blew past Wall Street estimates. The company said first quarter revenue was up 27%.

The first-quarter earnings season kicks into high gear on Tuesday with key tech companies such as Alphabet, Microsoft and AMD reporting after the bell.

So far, with about a third of the S&P 500 having reported numbers, 84% of companies have turned in a positive earnings surprise, according to FactSet. However, stock moves have been relatively muted following the strong results with the market standing at record levels with high valuations.

GameStop’s stock jumped more than 6% after the video game retailer said it sold 3.5 million additional shares, raising $551 million to speed up the company’s e-commerce transformation.

The S&P 500 edged higher to close at another record on Monday, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.9% to hit its first fresh record close since Feb. 12.

“Strong breadth measures suggest stocks still may have more upside,” said Jeff Buchbinder, equity strategist at LPL Financial. “While valuations are elevated, they still appear reasonable when factoring in interest rates and inflation.”

The Federal Reserve kicks off its two-day policy meeting on Tuesday. The central bank is not expected to take any action, but economists expect it to defend its policy to let inflation run hot. The latest CNBC Fed Survey sees the central bank staying on hold and keeping its asset buying program in place at the same levels for the rest of 2021, despite growing concerns about an overheating economy.

Apple and Facebook earnings follow on Wednesday after the bell.