Market Recap: Earnings season should lift stocks, early results indicate

The $Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI.US)$, $S&P 500 Index (.SPX.US)$and $Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC.US)$on Monday advanced to back-to-back record finishes, starting the week the way the ended last week.

Major stock indexes rose to back-to-back closing records on Monday. The advance came ahead of a number of key events that could serve as catalysts later in the week, including the unofficial start of earnings season, which $JPMorgan (JPM.US)$will kick off Tuesday, Powell's testimony on Capitol Hill, and fresh readings on inflation.

$Virgin Galactic (SPCE.US)$— Shares of Virgin Galactic were down 17% in midday trading after the space company filed to sell up to $500 million in common stock. The swoon came despite a successful test flight over the weekend with founder Sir Richard Branson. The stock, which trades under ticker SPCE, was halted for volatility earlier in the session.

$Cheesecake Factory (CAKE.US)$— Shares of the restaurant chain jumped 4% after Raymond James upgraded its shares to outperform from market perform and said the market is underestimating the comeback for full-service restaurants. Cheesecake Factory particularly saw a boost in recent months from its footprint states that were slower to reopen, Raymond James' Brian Vaccaro said.

Financial firms — Companies in the financial services businesses are still broadly enjoying the rebound in bond yields and the period before earnings season, in which they're expected to produce blowout results for the second quarter. $Discover Financial Services (DFS.US)$jumped 3.4% while $Morgan Stanley (MS.US)$, $T. Rowe Price (TROW.US)$, $Goldman Sachs (GS.US)$and $Capital One Financial (COF.US)$traded higher by more than 2%.

$Disney (DIS.US)$— Shares of the media giant gained more than 4% following the release of “Black Widow.” The film brought in $80 million from the domestic box office, which is the highest of any film released following the pandemic. The latest Marvel movie also brought in more than $60 million globally from sales through Disney+ Premier Access.

$Clover Health (CLOV.US)$- Clover’s stock fell 2.5% after JPMorgan downgraded it Monday morning to underweight from neutral, before climbing back up 4.4%. JPMorgan said uncertainty about the company’s business and a weak first-quarter report made the stock unattractive and that other managed care companies offer a more balanced risk/reward profile.

$Charter Communications (CHTR.US)$— Shares of Charter fell 2.2% after Bernstein downgraded the telecommunications and media company to market perform from outperform. “We remain convicted about Charter's business plans, financial strategies, and structural competitive position in most of the U.S.,” the firm said.