Wall Street closed higher on Monday as investors cheered President Donald Trump’s comments that the U.S.-China trade talks were on a positive track, while they remained focused on the Federal Reserve’s key policy meeting this week. All three major indexes ended in positive territory.
How Did The Benchmarks Perform?
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) rose 0.1%, or 49.23 points, to finish at 45,883.45 points.
The S&P 500 jumped 0.5%, or 30.99 points, to close at 6,615.28 points, hitting an all-time high and closing above the 6,600 mark for the first time. Communication services, tech and consumer discretionary stocks were the biggest gainers.
The Communication Services Select Sector SPDR (XLC) gained 1.4%. The Technology Select Sector SPDR (XLK) and the Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR (XLY) each gained 0.9%. Seven of the 11 sectors of the benchmark index ended in positive territory.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed 0.9%, or 207.65, to end at 22,348.75, hitting yet another all-time closing high.
The fear gauge CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) was up 6.30% to 15.69. Decliners outnumbered advancers on the S&P 500 by a 3.3-to-1 ratio.
Advancers outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by a 1.67-to-1 ratio. On Nasdaq, a 1.2-to-1 ratio favored advancing issues. A total of 17.68 billion shares were traded on Monday, higher than the last 20-session average of 16.2 billion.
On the Nasdaq, there were 117 new highs and 66 new lows. On the S&P 500, there were 23 new 52-week highs and 11 new lows.
U.S.-China Trade Talks Lift Investor Sentiment
Stocks rallied on Monday after Trump hinted that the U.S.-China trade talks were on track for a positive outcome. Officials from both nations continued tariff talks for the second day. They also discussed the potential sale of the Chinese-owned social media platform TikTok ahead of the deadline.
Trump didn’t mention TikTok but said in a Truth Social post that a deal was reached for a “company” that many American youngsters did not want to let go.
Meanwhile, shares of Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) jumped 4.5% after the search engine giant surpassed $3 trillion in market cap. Alphabet has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Additionally, shares of Tesla, Inc. (TSLA) gained 3.6% after regulatory filings showed that CEO Elon Musk had acquired approximately $1 billion worth of the company’s stock last week.
All Eyes on the FOMC Meeting
Investors are awaiting the upcoming Federal Open Market Committee’s policy meeting, this week’s most important event, when the central bank is expected to cut interest rates for the first time this year.
The Federal Reserve has kept interest rates unchanged since December 2024. A weakening labor market has raised hopes that the Fed will cut interest rates by 25 basis points at the end of its meeting on Wednesday.
Markets are pricing in a 96.1% chance of a quarter percentage point rate cut, according to the CME FedWatch tool.
No major economic data was released on Monday.
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