Wall Street advances ahead of bank earnings, Powell testimony this week

HONG KONG Stocks were up slightly in early trading on Wall Street, adding to records set last week. The S&P 500 was up 0.2% in the first minutes of trading Monday. The Nasdaq gained 0.1% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 233 points, or 0.6%. Traders are looking forward to several earnings reports this week, including updates from Delta Air Lines on Thursday and JPMorgan, Citigroup and Wells Fargo on Friday. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell addresses Congress on Tuesday and Wednesday. Treasury yields edged higher in the bond market.

THIS IS BREAKING NEWS. The previous AP story follows below.

Wall Street fluctuated between slight gains and losses early Monday as earnings season kicks off amid another busy week for the Federal Reserve and its inflation watchers.

Futures for the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average were each up less than 0.1% before the close.

Entertainment giant Paramount Global rose 2.1% after agreeing to merge with Skydance. Several companies have been looking to acquire Paramount, which owns CBS and is behind blockbuster films like Top Gun and The Godfather. Paramount shares are up about 25% since mid-June.

Boeing rose about 1% in early trading Monday after the aerospace giant agreed to plead guilty to a criminal fraud charge stemming from two 737 Max jetliner crashes that killed 346 people. The government determined the company violated an agreement who had protected him from prosecution for more than three years, the Justice Department said Sunday night.

Quarterly financial results from several major banks will be released later this week, as earnings season gets underway. JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Wells Fargo will report results on Friday. Delta Air Lines and PepsiCo will report results on Thursday.

Also this week, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell will testify before Congress on Tuesday and Wednesday. Powell’s comments will be closely watched for clues about the Fed’s interest rate policy. The Fed has kept its benchmark borrowing rate at its highest level in more than two decades to try to quell persistent inflation that has emerged after the U.S. economy rebounded from the brief but sharp pandemic recession.

On Thursday and Friday, Powell and other Fed officials will be watching the latest government data on inflation. Although inflation has slowed over the past two years, it remains above the Fed’s 2% target. Most experts expect the Fed to cut rates only once this year, but not before September. The Fed will hold its next meeting later this month.

Elsewhere, Asian stocks fell while European markets rose on Monday after French elections left its parliament split between the left, centre and far right, with no political faction coming close to a majority.

The CAC-40 index of large companies erased its losses at the start of the session and rose by 0.3%.

Analysts say markets are most concerned about a majority for either the left-wing New National Front or the National Rally (RND) led by Marine Le Pen. Both parties have made spending promises that have raised fears of increasing France's already large deficit. This has already led to a sell-off in French government bonds.

Even if that outcome was avoided, France now faces weeks of uncertainty as none of the main political forces in parliament have a clear majority to support a new government after Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced his resignation. That increases the likelihood that any new government will struggle to pass laws and make tough budgetary choices to prevent the country's debt and deficit from spiraling out of control.

The fact that the left has become the strongest group in parliament raises serious concerns, said Holger Schmieding, chief economist at Berenberg Bank. France is heading into a period of political uncertainty and very likely budgetary problems and some backtracking on President Emmanuel Macron's pro-growth reforms.

The euro rose to $1.0830.

In Europe, at midday, the German DAX was up 0.4% and the FTSE 100 in London was up 0.3%.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index fell 0.3 percent to 40,780.70 points, despite official data showing real wages fell 1.4 percent from a year earlier in May, the 26th straight month of decline, as a weaker yen and rising raw material costs pushed up the cost of imports. Nominal wages rose 1.9 percent.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 1.6% to 17,524.06 and the Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.9% to 2,922.45.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index fell 0.8% to 7,763.20 while South Korea's Kospi was down 0.2% to 2,857.76.

In other trading Monday, benchmark U.S. crude oil lost 80 cents to $82.36 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Brent crude oil, the international benchmark, lost 67 cents to $85.87 a barrel.

The US dollar rose from 160.72 yen to 160.92 Japanese yen.

U.S. stocks hit new records on Friday, boosted by a long-awaited report in the labor market.

The S&P 500 climbed 0.5% to 5,567.19 on Friday, setting a new record for the third straight day after trading was paused Thursday for the July 4 holiday. The index has already set 34 records and is up nearly 17% this year, just over halfway.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2% to 39,375.87, while the Nasdaq Composite added 0.9% to 18,352.76.