The Dow climbed nearly six-tenths of a percent, the S&P 500 added almost one percent and the Nasdaq rose roughly 1.4%.
The S&P and Nasdaq extended their winning streak to eight consecutive sessions, rebounding from a steep sell-off two weeks ago driven by recession fears.
Recent data has shown consumer resiliency despite economic softening, boosting expectations that the Fed will start lowering interest rates at its September policy meeting.
Chris Carey, portfolio manager at Carnegie Investment Counsel, says he'll be listening closely to Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech on Friday for any clues on upcoming cuts.
“Market reaction-wise, if we don't see a cut in September, I think it is going to make a lot of market participants, ourselves included, somewhat uneasy given the fact that no matter where you look, the data is saying that higher rates are having an adverse impact on the US economy, whether you look at the labor market or housing or inflation data. So, it will really make us question what the objective of the Fed is and why they can't read the writing on the wall.”
Stocks on the move Monday included tech giants Microsoft and Alphabet, which both ended higher, and AI darling Nvidia, which climbed more than 4%.
Speaking of Nvidia, fellow chip maker Advanced Micro Devices is hoping to better compete with the AI powerhouse, announcing Monday plans to acquire server maker ZT Systems for $4.9 billion. Shares of AMD rose 4.5%.
