U.S. stocks rise on hopes for Fed rate pause; inflation data in view

Investing.com -- U.S. stocks were rising on hopes the Federal Reserve will leave rates unchanged when it meets this month, as investors anticipate nearing the end of its interest rate increases.

At 9:34 ET (13:34 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 193 points or 0.6%, while the S&P 500 was up 0.7% and the NASDAQ Composite was up 0.9%.

The three major Wall Street indices posted a losing week last week, with the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average ending around 0.8 lower. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.9% and the broad-based S&P 500 fell 1.3%, their first negative week in three.

Inflation data looms large 

Last week’s equity losses were largely caused by rising concerns that stronger than expected economic data will prompt the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates at elevated levels for longer than previously expected.

With this in mind, the focus this week will be on the latest consumer price index and producer price index readings, on Wednesday and Thursday respectively, particularly given the higher energy cost pressures.

The market is widely expecting the U.S. central bank to pause raising interest rates this month, but policymakers still do not appear to be ready to declare victory over inflation.

"Another skip could be appropriate when we meet later this month," Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan said late on Thursday. "My base case, though, is that there is work left to do."

Tech sector in spotlight

The tech sector suffered last week as rising U.S. bond yields disproportionately impacted a number of the sector’s richly valued stocks.

This week sees financial updates from Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) on Monday and Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) on Thursday, while Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is set to hold a product event on Tuesday, at which the world’s most valuable company is widely expected to unveil the iPhone 15.

Additionally, Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) announced earlier Monday that the e-commerce giant’s former group CEO Daniel Zhang has resigned just two months after concentrating his focus on cloud computing, raising concern over the unit's spin-off plan. Alibaba shares slipped 0.5%.

Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares rose more than 5% after an upgrade from Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS), which said the electric vehicle maker will benefit from its autonomous technology.

Crude market awaits IEA, OPEC reports

Oil prices edged lower Monday, easing from 10-month highs after a stellar rally in the wake of top producers Saudi Arabia and Russia extending their voluntary supply cuts to the end of the year.

The International Energy Agency and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries are due to release their monthly reports this week.

Investors will be looking for comments on likely demand growth given a swathe of recent data has shown that the important Chinese economy was cooling despite the lifting of anti-COVID restrictions earlier this year. 

(Peter Nurse and Oliver Gray contributed to this item.)