The New York Stock Exchange moved higher on Monday, with a new record for the Nasdaq, in a climate of optimism on the eve of Nvidia's results, which will act as a test for the market.

Just over an hour after opening, the Dow Jones held above the 40,000-point threshold, advancing 0.1% to 40.054.1 points, while the Nasdaq Composite gained more than 0.6% to 16,794.5 points, after hitting a new all-time high in the morning, above 16,804.9 points.

So far, the earnings season has brought rather pleasant surprises, especially in the technology sector.

According to FactSet data, 78% of S&P 500 companies that reported earnings beat analysts' earnings forecasts, up from 77% over the last five years.

Among tech companies, this figure reached 87%, the best sector performance on the index.

As a result of these strong performances, the S&P 500, which set all-time highs last week, is currently trading at a PER of 20.7, compared with an all-time average of 18.7.

Against this backdrop, the market will be keeping a close eye on Nvidia's quarterly results, scheduled for Wednesday evening, to determine whether the current high valuation is justified.

Proof of the market's optimism, investors are flocking to major technology stocks, led by Nvidia (+2.4%), but also to semiconductor stocks as a whole, such as Micron (+3.9%) and Qualcomm (+1.4%).

In addition, market participants may wish to exercise a degree of caution ahead of the release of the minutes of the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy meeting, also scheduled for Wednesday evening.

The minutes could provide further clues as to the timing of future interest rate cuts in the USA.

According to CME Group's FedWatch barometer, the probability of a September rate hike in the US is now just under 50%, a sign that the slight slowdown in inflation is beginning to be priced in.

On the bond front, the ten-year yield is still stretching above 4.44% after falling last week to 4.32%, the lowest in over a month, but is still down 20 basis points since the end of April.

On the oil market, the price of US light crude continues to trade in a narrow range, although it rebounded by 0.3% above $80.3 mid-morning.

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