US: Stocks rise ahead of data deluge, extending rally

WALL Street stocks climbed on Monday ahead of a trove of major economic releases, extending a rally and lifting the Dow to its highest close in almost two years.

This week’s heavy schedule includes the November reading for the consumer price index and retail sales, as well as the Federal Reserve’s last monetary policy decision of 2023.

“The market is taking a cautiously optimistic view ahead of some catalysts,” said Art Hogan of B Riley Wealth Management.

“You enter a new week, momentum continued to carry through,” he added.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.4 per cent to 36,404.93, its highest close since January 2022.

The broad-based S&P 500 also advanced 0.4 per cent to 4,622.44, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index added 0.2 per cent at 14,432.49.

The gains in the Nasdaq came despite falls in large companies such as Apple, Amazon and Facebook parent Meta Platforms.

Hogan said an upcoming rebalancing on the Nasdaq is expected to lower the share of the most prominent tech giants.

Among individual companies, Macy’s surged almost 20 per cent after an investment consortium offered to buy the department store chain for US$5.8 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal.

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Occidental Petroleum climbed 1.0 per cent after announcing a deal buy rival American energy producer CrownRock, a private company, for US$12 billion. AFP