Wall Street Gains Ground After a Rare Winning Week

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

The S&P 500 rose 0.6% to keep upward momentum from its first winning week since July. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 244 points, or 0.7% to 34,589 as of 10:06 a.m. Eastern. The Nasdaq rose 0.6%.

Wall Street is wrapping up its latest round of earnings reports. Best Buy and Costco will report their results this week.

3M jumped 5.5% following reports that the company had agreed to a $5.5 billion settlement over faulty earplugs, a lower figure than expected. Boston Scientific rose 6.1% after giving investors an encouraging update on a study for a heart device.

Shares of Hawaiian Electric jumped 41% 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 65% over the past three weeks.

Investors closed last week relieved that Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank would "proceed carefully" on interest rates. The focus this week for Wall Street will likely be whether upcoming reports on the economy support the Fed holding rates steady or considering more increases to tame inflation.

The central bank has already hiked 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 has said it could raise rates again if it considers it necessary 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.

Wall Street will get an update on job openings from July on Tuesday and a monthly employment report for August on Friday. The employment market is being closely watched because it has remained strong amid hot 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.

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.