• US stocks surged on Monday as traders seek to end seven straight weeks of losses in the S&P 500.
  • Monday's rally in stocks came after JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon offered positive comments on the consumer and economy.
  • With 94% of S&P 500 companies having reported first-quarter earnings, 76% beat profit estimates, according to Fundstrat.

US stocks moved higher on Monday, with traders seeking to end seven straight weeks of losses in the S&P 500 as investors continue to digest first-quarter earnings as well as the impact of high inflation and interest rates.

The surge in stocks was ignited by JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, who said at the bank's annual investor day that the consumer remains strong and that the dark storm clouds hanging over the economy could eventually dissipate.

"I'm calling it storm clouds because they're storm clouds. They may dissipate. If it was a hurricane, I would tell you that," Dimon said. The bank raised its 2022 net interest income guidance by $3 billion to more than $56 billion, and said it expects net charge-offs to remain low beyond 2022 thanks to a strong consumer.

Here's where US indexes stood at the 4:00 p.m. ET close on Monday:

With 94% of S&P 500 companies having reported first-quarter earnings, 76% have beat profit estimates by a median of 9%, according to data from Fundstrat. Meanwhile, 72% of companies beat revenue estimates by a median of 3%. 

While most companies are beating earnings estimates, big misses from retail giants Target and Walmart last week led to their biggest drops since Black Monday in 1987. Both Target and Walmart were forced to eat higher fuel and shipping costs, and said certain inventory categories were not selling well with consumers.

Charlie Munger's Daily Journal piled $118 million into stocks in the six months to March 31, Securities and Exchange Commission filings show. The newspaper publisher and legal-software supplier funded the purchases by cashing out $81 million of other stocks and borrowing $43 million from its margin-loan account.

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde on Saturday criticized cryptocurrencies, saying they are "worth nothing," and should be regulated to protect people from depleting their life savings. In a Dutch student-led interview program, she said: "What I'm really concerned about when it comes to crypto assets is that those investments be made by people who have their eyes wide open about the fact that they can lose it all." 

Tether has paid out $10 billion in withdrawals to investors since the cryptocurrency market crashed earlier in May, leading the stablecoin to briefly lose hold of its dollar peg. Of that, $1 billion of tether was redeemed over the weekend, and $1.5 billion three days before that, according to an analysis of blockchain data reported by the Guardian. 

West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose as much as much as 0.13% to $110.42 per barrel. Brent crude, oil's international benchmark, jumped as much as 0.67% to $113.30.

Bitcoin fell 3.15% to $29,199. Ether prices fell 2.24% to $1,984.

Gold rose as much as 0.66% to $1,853.90 per ounce. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose seven basis points to 2.86%.

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