Wall Street stocks ended higher on Monday following market selling activity in the previous session as investors kept an eye on quarterly reports from major companies that will provide a snapshot of the health of the US economy.
The S&P and Nasdaq benchmarks rebounded from declines in the past six sessions as investors reassessed expectations for interest rate cuts following strong economic data, geopolitical tensions, inflation rates and speeches from the Fed.
All 11 S&P 500 sectors closed higher with technology and financial stocks leading gains.
For now, the market is gearing up for quarterly reports from giant companies this week such as Tesla, Meta, Platforms, Alphabet and Microsoft.
Lamar Villere, Portfolio Manager at Villere & Co in New Orleans says it's only normal buying after the 5% pullback that's fueling investors' interest in finding their profits.
They are looking ahead this week with a strong earnings report as well as concerns about the Fed extending interest rate cuts.
In addition to the top corporate report, the market is also awaiting the release later this week of Personal Consumer Expenditure (PCE) data for March which is the focus of the Fed to further ascertain the trajectory of its monetary policy.
Fed policymakers are currently in a period of media silence ahead of their policy meeting on May 1.
Meanwhile, the S&P 500 gained 43.37 points (0.87%) to 5,010.6 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 169.30 points (1.11%) to 15,451.31. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 253.58 points (0.67%) to 38,239.98.
The S&P 500 hit nine new 52-week highs and four new lows while the Nasdaq hit 40 new highs and 184 new lows.
Volume on US exchanges was 10.33 billion shares, compared to an average of 11.03 billion for the last 20 days.
