And will the Beyonce effect help Levi’s?
With the S&P 500 and starting the week at all-time highs, will the establish a record this week?
The Dow 30 gained 2.3% last week and closed on Thursday at 44,838. The markets were closed on Friday for the Independence Day holiday. It was just 176 points shy of the all-time Dow closing high of 45,014, set on December 4, 2024.
It lost some ground on Monday, as the markets were in the red across the board, with the Dow 30 down about 240 points to around 44,585 as of 11:00 a.m. ET. But it is definitely within the realm of possibility that the Dow 30 could end the week at a new all-time high.
It marked the third straight week of gains for the Dow, which is currently up 4.8% year-to-date.
Then again, it is a slow week for stocks, as we enter the first full week of the third quarter. The second quarter earnings reports start rolling in next week, so there aren’t many companies reporting this week. The biggest name is Delta Air Lines (NYSE:) on Thursday before the market opened.
Delta stock is down 17% year-to-date, as the carrier has dealt with economic and geopolitical headwinds. It withdrew its optimistic earnings and revenue targets for the full fiscal year last quarter due to this uncertainty.
Wall Street analysts are expecting earnings of $2.02 per share on revenue of $15.4 billion in the second quarter.
Beyonce Effect?
Another notable stock that reports this week is Levi Strauss (NYSE:), the purveyor of blue jeans and other types of clothing. Levi’s stock has had a strong year, up 13% to around $13.50 per share.
The company has gotten a lot of recognition from its connection with musician Beyonce, who wrote a popular song about Levi’s on her Grammy-winning album, Cowboy Carter, and then became a Levi’s brand ambassador, appearing in commercials for the iconic jeans brand.
Earlier this year, Levi’s CEO Michelle Gass said the “Beyoncé Effect is giving a lift to our business and contributed to our strong fourth-quarter results.” It will be interesting to see if that continues in the fiscal second quarter.
Wall Street is anticipating earnings of 13 cents per share when Levi’s reports earnings Thursday after the market closes.
Also, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite will try to maintain their all-time highs this week. The S&P 500 closed last week up 1.7% to 6,279, while the Nasdaq rose 1.6% to 20,601. Both are closing records for the indexes. It was the second straight positive week for the S&P 500 and third straight for the Nasdaq.
The index was the big winner, rising 3.5% last week to 2,249. It was the third consecutive week of gains for the small cap index.