US stocks slip from records as investors brace for wave of corporate earnings

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 on Monday stepped back from last week's record highs.
• Investors are gearing up for the second-quarter earnings season that kicks off with big Wall Street banks.
• Virgin Galactic was in focus after a successful space flight over the weekend.

US stocks edged back from record highs Monday as investors headed into the start of the second-quarter earnings season keeping global growth concerns in mind with coronavirus cases on the rise.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 were modestly lower following Friday's jump to record highs. The Dow soared by 470 points to reverse the previous session's selloff and finished slightly higher for the holiday-shortened week.

Investors will be turning their attention to corporate financial reports, starting with big investment banks on Wall Street on Tuesday as Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase release numbers.

Here's where US indexes stood at 9:30 a.m. on Monday:

• S&P 500: 4,364.92, down 0.11%
• Dow Jones Industrial Average: 34,736.72, down 0.38% (132.48 points)
• Nasdaq Composite: 14,757.25, up 0.39%

"The concern as Q2 earnings season approaches is that earnings might be peaking as trading activity slows and interest rates remain stubbornly low. A decline in "special purpose acquisition companies" (SPACs) activity during Q2 might also have hurt the sector," said JJ Kinahan, chief market strategist at TD Ameritrade, in a note Monday.

"That doesn't mean Q2 year-over-year earnings growth for the Financial sector won't be immense," he added.

The fresh earnings reports arrive as investors keep watch on rising COVID-19 cases counts in the US, the UK, Asia, and Europe stemming from the Delta variant of coronavirus.

Around the markets, Virgin Galactic shares surged after the space company on Sunday completed a successful space test flight with founder Richard Branson on board. The venture took place before Jeff Bezos's own space launch.

Gold rose 0.8% to $1,802.77 per ounce. Long-dated US Treasury yields edged up, with the 10-year yield at 1.339%.

Oil prices fell. West Texas Intermediate crude declined 1.1%, to $73.76. Brent crude, oil's international benchmark, lost 1.1%, to $74.74 per barrel .

Bitcoin dropped 1.9%, to $33,580.06.