Stocks tack on gains before holiday break

NEW YORK — Stocks edged higher in a shortened trading day Monday as momentum slowed on Wall Street following its powerful rally through the first half of the year.

The S&P 500 rose 5.21 points, or 0.1%, to 4,455.59 and reached its highest level since April 2022. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 10.87, or less than 0.1%, to 34,418.47, and the Nasdaq composite added 28.85, or 0.2%, to 13,816.77.

Tesla was the strongest force lifting the S&P 500 upward after the market heavyweight climbed 6.9%. The company reported that the number of vehicles it delivered during the spring surged by 83% from a year earlier. That was more than analysts expected, though cuts to prices may have driven some of the gains. Investors will see how much the discounts hit profits when Tesla reports its earnings on July 19.

Rivian Automotive, another electric-vehicle company, jumped 17.4% after it also reported deliveries for the spring that topped analysts’ expectations.

On the losing end of Wall Street was Apple, which slipped 0.8% after becoming the first U.S. stock on Friday to finish a trading day with a total value of more than $3 trillion.

Much of the rest of the market was relatively quiet following a rally where the S&P 500 climbed in six of the last seven weeks to send the index up nearly 16% for the first half of the year.

Trading in the U.S. stock market ended at 1:00 p.m. Eastern time and will remain closed Tuesday in observance of Independence Day.

The market’s gains so far this year have come as the U.S. economy has defied many predictions for a recession. The job market in particular has remained solid despite much higher interest rates meant to undercut inflation.

One area of the economy that has faltered is manufacturing, and a report on Monday showed it contracted in June for an eighth straight month. The reading from the Institute for Supply Management was worse than economists expected.

“Manufacturing is stuck in the mud and it looks like more rain is coming,” said Brian Jacobsen, chief economist at Annex Wealth Management. “The only solace in the ISM report was that inflationary pressures are absent, but that’s little comfort when earnings continue to be at risk.”