04:55 PM EDT, 07/21/2025 (MT Newswires) -- The Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 hit fresh highs on Monday as traders looked toward earnings reports due later in the week, including from companies such as Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) and Tesla (TSLA).

The tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 0.4% to 20,974.2, while the S&P 500 was up 0.1% at 6,305.6, both surpassing their previous closing peaks reached last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was nearly flat at 44,323.1. Most sectors ended in the green, led by communication services, while energy saw the biggest drop.

Google ( GOOG ) parent Alphabet and electric vehicle maker Tesla are scheduled to report their latest quarterly financial results Wednesday. Coca-Cola (KO), Philip Morris International ( PM ) , IBM ( IBM ) , T-Mobile US ( TMUS ) , AT&T ( T ) , Honeywell International ( HON ) , and Intel ( INTC ) are also slated to report this week, along with others.

Some 12% of S&P 500 companies have logged quarterly results in the latest reporting cycle, with earnings up nearly 11% year over year on sales growth of 5.3%, Oppenheimer said in a Monday client note. Before the start of the quarter, bottom-up estimates from Forbes put analysts' projected earnings growth at 4.8%, according to the note.

"Early reports have modestly exceeded estimates, and we believe that investor sentiment is set for an expectation that S&P 500 earnings growth will come in well-above the (June 30 4.8%) consensus estimate," D.A. Davidson said in a Monday note. "We would not be surprised to see some renewed volatility along the way, however."

In company news, Verizon Communications ( VZ ) shares rose 4%, the top gainer on the Dow and the S&P 500. The telecommunications giant raised the lower end of its full-year earnings growth outlook after logging better-than-expected second-quarter results.

Cleveland-Cliffs ( CLF ) shares jumped nearly 13% after the steelmaker posted better-than-expected results for the second quarter driven by record steel shipments. The company said US President Donald Trump's tariffs are helping buoy domestic manufacturing.

Domino's Pizza (DPZ) reported fiscal second-quarter earnings below Wall Street's estimates as comparable sales growth in the US slowed down year over year. The company's shares were down 0.8%.

Pinterest's ( PINS ) shares climbed 2.4% after Morgan Stanley upgraded its rating on the stock to overweight from equal-weight and raised its price target to $45 from $37. The brokerage said the image-sharing platform's recent investments and other efforts are likely to drive the its growth acceleration and earnings power ahead.

US Treasury yields were lower, with the 10-year rate decreasing 4.2 basis points to 4.38% and the two-year rate dropping 1.1 basis points to 3.87%.

Implementing high tariff rates on the US' trading partners "will put more pressure on those countries to come with better agreements," CNBC reported Monday, citing US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

On Sunday, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick reportedly said Aug. 1 is a "hard deadline" for countries to start paying tariffs to the US.

"With not much yet arrived at in terms of where the final tariff regime will resolve to, we find the day-to-day action of US markets looking like we're at yet another 'standing at the crossroads' period in market history awaiting resolution on an issue of significance to provide greater definition as to the next direction asset class prices are likely to take with some consistency," said John Stoltzfus, chief investment strategist at Oppenheimer Asset Management.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil was down 0.5% at $66.99 a barrel in Monday late-afternoon trade. "Crude prices dipped slightly as the latest European sanctions on Russian oil are expected to have minimal impact on supplies," D.A. Davidson said in a client note.

Gold was up 1.5% at $3,409.9 per troy ounce, while silver jumped 2% to $39.25 per ounce.