Wall St gains on boost from megacaps ahead of key economic data

Wall Street’s main indexes rose on Monday as a pullback in Treasury yields boosted megacap growth stocks ahead of key inflation and jobs data this week that will offer more clues on the Federal Reserve’s interest rate path.

Apple (AAPL.O), Microsoft (MSFT.O), Alphabet (GOOGL.O) and Tesla (TSLA.O) rose between 0.5% and 1.3%, as the yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury note slipped to 4.20%.

The S&P 500 communication services (.SPLRCL) and technology (.SPLRCT) sectors led gains among the 11 major S&P sub-indexes, rising 1.2% and 0.8% respectively.

Stocks ended a volatile session higher on Friday after Fed Chair Jerome Powell at the Jackson Hole meet said the U.S. central bank may need to raise interest rates further.

Focus now shifts to a report on the personal consumption expenditures price index, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, which is set to be released on Thursday and the non-farm payrolls data due on Friday.

“Investors were looking for perhaps more guidance or hints about the Fed’s next step and unfortunately there were no new thoughts or strategies disclosed,” Peter Andersen, founder of Andersen Capital Management, said.

“The market will probably start off maybe slightly positive, but in a holding pattern until investors can digest these important data releases this week.”

This report’s information was first seen on REUTERS; to read more, click this link.