Wall St bounces as focus shifts to rates outlook ahead of inflation data

Wall Street's main stock indexes rose on Monday, rebounding from a week of steep losses as focus shifted back to the extent of interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve in 2024 and the crucial inflation report later in the week.

Most megacap and growth stocks rose after falling sharply last week, while Apple slipped over 1 per cent ahead of the company's “It's Glowtime”event where it will likely unveil a series of new iPhones and updates to other devices and applications.

Apple 's event could be upstaged by Huawei that has a scheduled announcement of its Mate XT phone - a triple-folding smartphone - just hours later.

Ten of the eleven S&P 500 sectors were trading higher, with industrials and financials rising around 1.5 per cent each.

Global markets were rattled last week as uncertainty over the US economy's health rippled across assets, adding fuel to an already volatile period that has investors grappling with a shift in the Federal Reserve's policy and worries over stretched valuations.

Friday's weaker-than-expected August jobs data spurred worries on economic growth, driving the Nasdaq Composite to its worst week since January 2022, while the S&P 500 saw its biggest weekly drop since March 2023.

Markets will be squarely focused on US consumer prices data on Wednesday that is expected to show a moderation in headline inflation in August to 2.6 per cent on a yearly basis, while on a monthly basis it is expected to remain unchanged at 0.2 per cent.

"The idea is that whatever they do, the communication from the Fed is going to be, look, this is the start of an easing cycle that's going to get us more towards neutral," said Steve Wyett, chief investment strategist at BOK Financial.

"My sense is they'd rather do 25 basis points (rate cut) at a time because that's obvious given that growth is remaining relatively positive."

The CPI report will be followed by producer prices data on Thursday.

Money markets currently see a 71 per cent chance of a 25-basis-point rate reduction by the Fed next week and expect a total monetary easing of 100 bps by the end of the year, according to CME's FedWatch Tool.

Debate between Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump on Tuesday - the first time ahead of the presidential election on Nov. 5 - will be closely eyed by the investors.

At 11:26 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 361.73 points, or 0.90 per cent, the S&P 500 gained 33.24 points, or 0.61 per cent, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 74.15 points, or 0.44 per cent.

Among other individual movers, Boeing advanced 3.6 per cent after the planemaker and its biggest union reached a tentative deal covering more than 32,000 workers, averting a possible strike.

Dell Technologies and Palantir rose 4.6 per cent and 11.6 per cent respectively, while Erie climbed 1.2 per cent as they are set to join the S&P 500 index on Sept. 23.

These companies will replace American Airlines Group , Etsy and Bio-Rad Laboratories, respectively, in the index.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.14-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.82-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted 15 new 52-week highs and three new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 29 new highs and 137 new lows.