Wall Street closed higher Monday as traders made their final moves in anticipation of a report that could show whether inflation is cooling in the right way or setting the market up for worse pain. The S&P 500 rose 46.83 points, or 1.1%, to 4,137.29. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 376.66 points, or 1.1%, to 34,245.93. The Nasdaq composite rose 173.67 points, or 1.5%, to 11,891.79. A report on Tuesday will show how bad inflation was at the consumer level in January. Economists expect a slowdown, and better-than-expected trends could reignite hopes that the Federal Reserve may be able to take it easier on interest rates, the AP reports.
Stocks are coming off their worst week in nearly two months, the latest stumble for a market that has struggled for more than a year on worries about high inflation and the Federal Reserve’s response to it. The Fed has aggressively hiked rates to their highest level since the dawn of the Great Recession to drive down the worst inflation in generations. High rates can stamp out inflation, but they do so at the risk of sending the economy into a sharp recession and dragging on investment prices. Economists expect Tuesday’s report to show inflation slowed to 6.2% in January. That would be down from 6.5% a month before and from a peak of more than 9% in the summer.
The bulk of earnings reports have already come in for this season, with big utility companies and retailers among the companies toward the tail end. This upcoming week will include reports from Southern Co., Coca-Cola, and Kraft Heinz. Fidelity National Information Services tumbled 12.5% despite reporting slightly stronger profit and revenue for its latest quarter than expected. FIS gave a forecast for 2023 results that fell short of Wall Street’s expectations, and it said it will spin off its Worldpay merchant business after acquiring it in a deal less than four years ago.
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