© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: People are seen on Wall Street outside the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., March 19, 2021. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
By Shristi Achar A and Noel Randewich
(Reuters) – Wall Street rose on Monday, with gains in 3M and Goldman Sachs ahead of key inflation and jobs data this week that will offer more clues on the Federal Reserve’s interest rate path.
All three major stock indexes rose as investors digested last Friday’s comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell that the U.S. central bank may need to raise interest rates further to ensure inflation is contained.
Focus now shifts to a report on the personal consumption expenditures price index, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, to be released on Thursday, and non-farm payrolls data due on Friday.
“The fact that Powell didn’t come out and say anything particularly hawkish or particularly unnerving to markets – that has proven to make this a bit of a risk-on day, even if he wasn’t outright dovish either,” said Ross Mayfield, Investment Strategy Analyst at Baird.
Megacap stocks were mixed, with Nvidia (NASDAQ:) and Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:) rising about 1% each and Tesla (NASDAQ:) and Amazon (NASDAQ:) dropping almost 1% each.
3M jumped 5% after a report that the conglomerate has tentatively agreed to pay more than $5.5 billion to resolve over 300,000 lawsuits claiming it sold the U.S. military defective combat earplugs.
Goldman Sachs gained 1.4% after the lender struck a deal to sell an investment advisory business to wealth management firm Creative Planning LLC.
Of 11 sector indexes, eight rose, led by real estate, up 0.79%, followed by a 0.52% gain in communication services.
The S&P 500 was up 0.26% at 4,417.33 points.
The Nasdaq gained 0.42% to 13,648.23 points, while rose 0.35% to 34,468.19 points.
China halved the stamp duty on stock trading effective Monday to boost its ailing market, sending U.S.-listed shares of Chinese companies, including JD (NASDAQ:).com, Baidu (NASDAQ:) and Alibaba (N:) up between 1.4% and 2.7%.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo discussed concerns about restrictions on American businesses including Intel (NASDAQ:) and Micron (NASDAQ:) with Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao. Micron’s shares gained 2% while and Intel’s rose 0.5%.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission suspended its challenge of Amgen (NASDAQ:)’s $27.8 billion purchase of Horizon Therapeutics (NASDAQ:). Horizon’s shares rose 5.5%.
Advancing issues outnumbered falling ones within the S&P 500 by a 2.3-to-one ratio.
The S&P 500 posted 8 new highs and 1 new low; the Nasdaq recorded 49 new highs and 133 new lows.