Wall St. posts gains powered by Amazon, energy stocks

STORY: U.S. stocks ended higher on Monday, boosted by the energy sector and a multi-billion-dollar Amazon deal that ramps up the artificial intelligence race.

The Dow edged up a tenth of a percent, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq each climbed at least four-tenths of a percent.

Monday marked a rebound for the S&P 500 index, which is coming off its biggest weekly drop since March, after the Federal Reserve last week signaled higher interest rates for longer.

But Sam Stovall, Chief Investment Strategist at CFRA Research, says stocks should continue to climb in the fourth quarter despite the likelihood of another rate hike.

“I think that we're just going to see one more rate hike likely to take place in November, get it out of the way. And then, I think investors might breathe a sigh of relief because traditionally the Fed ends up cutting rates an average of nine months after the last rate hike. And along the way, the S&P has gained about 13%, with all sectors in positive territory in anticipation of, you know, the pressure being relieved, sort of like releasing pressure from a balloon that was underwater, giving a chance to rise to the surface.”

Among the S&P 500 sectors, energy led the way on Monday, with Exxon Mobile and Chevron each rising more than 1%.

And Amazon shares rose more than one and a half percent after the e-commerce giant said it will invest up to $4 billion in startup Anthropic to compete with growing cloud rivals in artificial intelligence.

Investors through the week will be monitoring data including the key personal consumption expenditures price index for August and second-quarter GDP, as well as remarks by Fed policymakers, including Chair Jerome Powell.