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STORY: U.S. stocks ended higher on Monday ahead of key inflation and jobs data this week that will offer more clues on the Federal Reserve's interest rate path.

The Dow and S&P 500 each gained about six-tenths of a percent, while the Nasdaq gained roughly eight-tenths.

Investors digested last Friday's comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell that the U.S. central bank may need to raise interest rates further to ensure inflation is contained.

But George Ball, Chairman of Sanders Morris Harris, notes that today’s rate environment is actually the norm.

“People are talking about 'higher for longer' - as if the level of interest rates we're seeing now is an anomaly. It really isn't. [FLASH] And so strangely, I don't think we should hope to see rates go down. If rates start to go down, it's because something is going wrong in the economy, or in the world."

Among individual movers, shares of Nvidia rose nearly 2% and were the most traded stock in the S&P 500, with $31 billion worth of the chipmaker's shares exchanged.

Shares of 3M jumped more than 5% after a report that the conglomerate has tentatively agreed to pay more than $5.5 billion to resolve over 300,000 lawsuits claiming it sold the U.S. military defective combat earplugs.

And shares of Goldman Sachs gained nearly 2% after the lender struck a deal to sell an investment advisory business to wealth management firm Creative Planning.

Focus now shifts to a report on the personal consumption expenditures price index, the Fed's preferred inflation gauge, to be released on Thursday, and non-farm payrolls data due on Friday.