S&P 500, Nasdaq, close slightly higher in cautious start to a heavy earnings week

S&P 500, Nasdaq, close slightly higher in cautious start to a heavy earnings week

By Stephen Culp and Niket Nishant

Mon April 27, 2026  

There isn’t a whole lot of agreement on sentiment right now with the markets going in all different directions given the plethora of news coming this week. All the indexes opened in the red posting 3-digit losses until about 1 pm. Then everything but the Dow went into the black for the two tech indexes to close marginally higher but any plus meant a new record. The S&P in fact is now at a record high equivalent to doubling its value in the last 3-1/2 years. The question is if earnings will justify all these new records. So far, so good, with 28% of S&P companies reporting and 81% beating estimates.  

But caution is in order as this week a whopping 44% of the entire S&P value brings in their reports. Plus there are many other factors, much more data coming this week and Fed reports not to mention war news with Iran now making a proposal for renewing peace talks but still the staunch demand that Trump end the blockade before anything happens. The earnings growth forecast is at 16.1% vs 14.4 on April 1. The sketchiness is reflected in the way below the recent average of 18.28 billion, closing today at 15.59 billion. 

DJ: 49,230.71  -79.61         NAS: 24,836.60  +398.09        S&P: 7,165.08  +56.68           4/24

DJ: 49,167.79  -62.92         NAS: 24,887.10  +50.50          S&P: 7,173.91  +8.83             4/27

Mon 4-27-26 4:40 pm S&P 500, Nasdaq, close slightly higher in cautious start to a heavy earnings week | Reuters