- Stocks took a breather in early trading after the S&P 500 closed above 5,000 points on Friday.
- Solid earnings, strong economic data, and cooling inflation have boosted stocks, one analyst said.
US stocks are set to take a breather at Monday's opening bell after surging to record highs last week.
$4 were flat shortly after 5 a.m. ET, following the benchmark index's $4 on Friday. $4 also treaded water, while $4 slid 0.1%.
"The index closed last week above the 5,000 psychological mark," Ipek Ozkardeskaya, a senior analyst at Swissquote Bank, said in a morning note. "Nasdaq 100, on the other hand, recorded its 11th all-time high this year."
"The strong economic data from the US that keeps defying the theory that the economy should slow when you hike rates, the strong earnings from big US companies — especially the tech companies that continue to surf on the AI optimism — and the slowing inflation are the major drivers of the optimism," she added.
The Federal Reserve has hiked its benchmark interest rate from almost zero to more than 5% within the last two years.
The central bank has signaled it will begin cutting this year, as inflation has dropped from a high in excess of 9% to below 4%. Companies including Amazon and Meta reported $4 last week.
Separately, the yield on the 10-year US Treasury bond dipped by about 0.3% to about 4.2%. The US dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of other currencies, was flat.
Arista Networks is among the companies due to report earnings Monday.
Wall Street will be monitoring scheduled comments from two Fed officials, Michelle Bowman and Neel Kashkari, and digesting monthly federal-budget data later in the day.