Stocks Rise to Start the Week, Led By Tech

Stocks rose Monday to kick off the final trading week of August, boosted by gains in tech.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 245 points, or 0.7%. The S&P 500 climbed 0.5%, and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 1%.

Tech favorite Tesla added 1.5%, recovering some of its August losses. The stock is down 9% month to date. Meta, Microsoft and Alphabet were also higher.

Those moves come as tech tries to regain its footing late in August. The Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLK) is so far the second-worst performing sector of 11 peers, trailing only materials. But a second-consecutive blowout earnings report from chipmaker Nvidia may be turning the tide.

Outside of tech, Shares of 3M popped more than 6% after a Bloomberg News report that the company was ready to settle lawsuits alleging some earplugs were faulty.

Stocks are coming off a winning session following fresh remarks from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. On Friday, Powell pointed to some signs of continued economic growth and strong consumer spending, but indicated that the central bank would “proceed carefully” with additional hikes.

“Although inflation has moved down from its peak — a welcome development — it remains too high,” Powell said in prepared remarks. “We are prepared to raise rates further if appropriate, and intend to hold policy at a restrictive level until we are confident that inflation is moving sustainably down toward our objective.”

As of Monday morning, traders were pricing in a nearly 20% chance that the Fed will hike rates again at its upcoming September meeting, according to CME Group’s FedWatch tool.