Rate Cut Prospects Helps Equities Perk



Stocks advanced Monday, with Wall Street building on the previous session’s strong gains, as traders lifted Federal Reserve rate cut expectations.

The Dow Jones Industrials held onto gains of 176.59 points to end Monday at 38,852.27.

The S&P 500 added 52.95 points, or 1%, to 5,180.74.

The NASDAQ popped 192.92 points, or 1.2%, to 16,349.25.

Micron shares gained more than 4% after Baird upgraded the stock to outperform from neutral and said it sees “meaningful opportunities ahead” for shares.

While the peak of the first-quarter earnings season has passed, investors are still watching key companies set to report this week, including Dow member Disney on Tuesday and Uber on Wednesday.

On Saturday, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway reported a nearly 40% surge in year-over-year operating earnings for the first quarter. Berkshire also held its annual shareholder meeting.

Wall Street is coming off a winning session, after fresh nonfarm payrolls data on Friday showed the U.S. economy added fewer-than-expected jobs in April and an increase in unemployment, easing fears of an overheating economy.

Prices for the 10-year Treasury jumped, lowering yields to 4.49% from Friday’s 4.50%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Oil prices gathered 51 cents to $78.62 U.S. a barrel.

Gold prices were better by $24.20 to $2,333.30.