Stocks rose Monday as Wall Street heads into the final trading week of August. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed more than 200 points, while the S&P 500 Index and Nasdaq Composite added 0.6% and 0.8%, respectively.
Here's how the market settled on Monday:
S&P 500 Index (NYSE: SPY): +0.63% or +27.60 points to 4,433.31
Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA): +0.62% or +213.08 points to 34,559.98
Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: QQQ): +0.84% or +114.48 points to 13,705.13
Despite the session's gains, all three indexes are on track to log a negative month, with the tech heavy Nasdaq underperforming the broader market by falling more than 4%. The Dow and S&P 500 have also dropped about 3% each.
Still, market sentiment was boosted last week following remarks from Federal Reserve Jerome Powell on Friday over the health of the U.S. economy. Powell pointed to signs of continued growth and resilient consumer spending despite prolonged inflation, but signaled that the central bank would still consider interest rate hikes if necessary to stabilize prices.
Traders are predicting a more than 20% chance the Fed will raise interest rates again in September to a range of 5.50% to 5.75%, according to CME Group's FedWatch tool. The week ahead offers more economic data including the central bank's preferred inflation gauge due out Thursday and August's jobs report slated for release Friday morning.
For Monday, Dow component 3M (NYSE: MMM) shares rose after Bloomberg reported the company reached a tentative agreement to pay more than $5.5 billion to settle over 300,000 lawsuits related to U.S. military combat earbuds.
Hawaiian Electric (NYSE: HE) shares jumped nearly 45% after the utility responded to a lawsuit filed by Maui County last week blaming the company for causing the wildfires that killed more than 100 people and caused billions of dollars in damages. Hawaiian Electric said power lines toppled by high winds likely caused a morning brush fire, but electricity had been off for hours before a second fire occurred.
"We were surprised and disappointed that the County of Maui rushed to court even before completing its own investigation," CEO Shelee Kimura said in a statement Sunday. "We believe the complaint is factually and legally irresponsible."
Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) raised the free shipping minimum to $35 for non-Prime members in certain markets, according to a notice on the e-commerce giant's website. Previously, shoppers had to purchase at least $25 in goods for free shipping. Prime subscribers will not see the change, as their $139 annual membership continues to offer free shipping for all orders fulfilled by Amazon.
Morgan Stanley analyst Hamza Fodderwala downgraded CrowdStrike (NASDAQ: CRWD) to Equal Weight from Overweight ahead of the cybersecurity company's earnings report on Wednesday.
"We are cautious [on] CRWD ahead of FQ2 earnings this week as consensus estimates for 2H/CY24 rebound appear high in light of a more difficult demand environment," Fodderwala wrote in a Monday note. "Another cut to consensus CY23/24 annual recurring revenue estimates seems likely, while risk-reward seems more balanced now."
For Tuesday, market participants will react to fresh economic data on U.S. home prices for June, July's job openings and August's consumer confidence in the morning. Earnings reports for HP (NYSE: HP), NIO (NASDAQ: NIO), Best Buy (NASDAQ: BBY), and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE: HPE) are set for release throughout Tuesday.