Stocks in New York got the week off to a strong start, closing higher on Monday as investors brace themselves for a slew of economic data set to be released later in the week. Markets will reflect on this data in an effort to gauge the Federal Reserve’s next moves in its interest rate policy.
The S&P 500 gained 27.6 points, or 0.63%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.63% as well, gaining 217.19 points. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 114.49 points, or 0.84%, to 13,705.13. In Europe, the Stoxx 600 Index rose by 0.89% while the MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares excluding Japan gained 0.76%. Japan’s Nikkei rose by 1.73%.
“I wouldn’t trust what happens in the markets this week,” Chuck Carlson, chief executive officer at Horizon Investment Services, admitted. “It’s a week where, historically, there’s not much going on and people are on the sidelines, so any news gets exacerbated.”