Stocks Rise as Markets Await Fed Chief's Remarks

Stocks closed higher on Monday, tacking on some more gains following Wall Street's best week of the year.

• The S&P 500 rose 54.00 points to 5,608.25 for its eighth straight gain, coming within 1% of the all-time high it reached last month.
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 236.77 points, or 0.6%, to 40,896.53.
• The Nasdaq composite jumped 245.05 points, or 1.4%, to 17,876.77.

Treasury yields eased a bit ahead of a speech on Friday from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, which will likely be the highlight of the week for markets, the AP reports. Almost everyone expects the Fed to cut rates at its next meeting in September, but Powell could give hints on how many cuts will come and how quickly.

Among the biggest movers in the mostly quiet market was chip company Advanced Micro Devices. It rose 4.5% after saying it would buy ZT Systems, a supplier in the cloud computing and artificial-intelligence industries, in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $4.9 billion. Another chip company, Nvidia, rose 4.4% and was the single strongest force pushing the S&P 500 upward. That helped offset a 4.8% drop for Guess? Inc., which said its chief financial officer is stepping down to pursue another opportunity. The apparel and accessories company said it's begun a search for its next CFO and appointed an interim.

With more than 90% of companies in the S&P 500 having already turned in their reports, they're on track to deliver growth of nearly 11% in earnings per share from a year earlier, according to FactSet. That would be the best growth since the end of 2021. Retailers dominate the tail end of earnings season, and Lowe's, Ross Stores, Target, and TJX will be among those in the spotlight this week.

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