Stock market today: Wall Street gains ahead of busy week of closely-watched economic reports

By DAMIAN J. TROISE
AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks rose broadly on Wall Street Monday as markets shift their attention from the Federal Reserve to more corporate and economic reports.

The gains extended the market’s winning streak after it notched its first weekly gain since July. The S&P 500 rose 27.60 points, or 0.6%, to 4,433.31. The benchmark index is still on track to close out August with a loss.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 213.08 points, or 0.6% to 34,559.98 and the Nasdaq composite rose 114.48 points, or 0.8%, to 13,705.13.

Companies are wrapping up their latest round of earnings reports, which have mostly beaten analysts’ expectations. Still, overall profits for the S&P 500 have contracted about 4% under the weight of persistent inflation.

Best Buy, Costco and Dollar General are among some of the bigger retailers that will report their results this week.

3M jumped 5.2% following reports that the company had agreed to a $5.5 billion settlement over faulty earplugs, a lower figure than expected. Boston Scientific rose 6% after giving investors an encouraging update on a study for a heart device.

Shares of Hawaiian Electric jumped 44.6% as the utility pushed back against accusations it is responsible for causing the wildfire that devastated the community of Lahaina. The company said power to the lines in the area of the fire had been cut off hours before the blaze began, refuting an allegation in a lawsuit filed last week by Maui County. The shares are still down about 63% over the past three weeks.

Investors have a busy week ahead full of economic reports that could shed more light on whether the job market remains hot and inflation is still cooling. The latest data could provide more clues about whether the Fed is likely to hold interest rates steady or raise them again before the year closes.

Wall Street will get an update Tuesday on consumer confidence, which jumped sharply in July and is expected to remain strong in August.

The government will issue its July report on job openings on Tuesday and its broader jobs report for August on Friday. The job market is being closely watched because it has remained strong amid high inflation and is credited with acting as a bulwark against a recession.

Investors and economists will be focusing closely on the government’s latest inflation update on Thursday. The report on personal consumption and expenditures is the Fed’s preferred measure as it tries to rein inflation back to 2%. The PCE report showed inflation rising at a rate of 3% in June and the July report is expected to show it rose slightly to 3.3%. Overall, it’s down from a high of 7% a year ago.

Investors closed last week relieved that Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank would “proceed carefully” on interest rates.

“The general consensus is that we’re getting closer to the end of the interest rate hiking cycle,” said Brian Price, head of investment management for Commonwealth Financial Network.

The central bank has already raised its main interest rate to the highest level since 2001 in its drive to grind down high inflation. That was up from virtually zero early last year. The Fed held rates steady at its last meeting, but hasn’t ruled out future rate hikes to fight persistent inflation.

Wall Street is betting that the Fed will hold rates steady again at its September meeting, according to CME’s FedWatch tool. Bets are nearly evenly split, though, on whether it will raise rates one more time before 2023 closes.

Powell on Friday said upcoming decisions will be based on what incoming data reports say about the economy.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury slipped to 4.21% from 4.24% late Friday. The yield on the 2-year Treasury, which more closely tracks expectations for the Fed, fell to 5.06% from 5.08% late Friday.

Markets in Asia rose broadly. China will no longer require a negative COVID-19 test result for incoming travelers, a milestone in its reopening to the rest of the world after an isolation that began with the country’s borders closing in 2020.

European markets also gained ground.

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Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed to this report.