Wall St rises on Tesla boost as investors await inflation data

By Shristi Achar A and Shubham Batra

(Reuters) -The and Nasdaq were on course for their best day in two weeks on Monday as Tesla (NASDAQ:) led gains in megacaps, while investors awaited inflation data due later this week for clues on the U.S. Federal Reserve’s interest-rate path.

Tesla jumped 8.7% as Morgan Stanley upgraded it to “overweight” from “equal-weight”, saying the EV maker’s Dojo supercomputer could boost the company’s market value by nearly $600 billion.

Shares of other megacaps including Apple (NASDAQ:), Microsoft (NASDAQ:) and Amazon (NASDAQ:) rose between 0.1% and 2.4%%.

The S&P 500 consumer discretionary stocks rose 2.2% to their highest level in a month, leading gains in key S&P 500 sectors.

Energy shares were a major drag, down 1.1%.

Investors now await the crucial consumer and producer prices data as well as retail sales numbers due later this week.

A survey by New York Fed showed that Americans’ overall views on inflation were little changed in August, as they predicted rising costs for homes and food, while expecting bleaker personal financial health.

“I don’t expect anything (on rates) in September,” said Anthony Denier, CEO at brokerage Webull.

“I do expect more movement towards the end of the year, but as long as the jobs data continues on the trend that we’re seeing, the Fed won’t need to be aggressive and that’s going to be good for markets of course.”

Wall Street had logged weekly losses on Friday after a recent uptick in oil prices and stronger-than-expected economic data fueled concerns of sticky inflation and interest rates staying higher for longer.

Traders see a 93% chance of the central bank holding its interest rates at current levels in the September meeting, while their odds for a pause in November stand at nearly 61%, according to CME FedWatch Tool.

Treasury yields inched up on Monday, with yields on , considered to best reflect short-term interest rate expectations, hovering around 4.9906%.

Fed officials have entered a blackout period, during which they usually do not make public comments, until the policy decision outcome on Sept. 20.

At 11:42 a.m. ET, the was up 18.53 points, or 0.05%, at 34,595.12, the S&P 500 was up 15.91 points, or 0.36%, at 4,473.40, and the was up 94.04 points, or 0.68%, at 13,855.57.

While Qualcomm (NASDAQ:) advanced 3.3% after the chipmaker signed a new deal with Apple to supply 5G chips to the iPhone maker until at least 2026, peers were down, led by a 2.1% fall in Nvidia (NASDAQ:).

Hostess Brands (NASDAQ:) jumped 19.2% after J. M. Smucker said it would buy the Twinkies-maker in a $5.6 billion deal.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:) added 2.1% after a report on Sunday said the firm was working on a new, more powerful artificial-intelligence system.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.68-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.35-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded 11 new 52-week highs and nine new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 23 new highs and 122 new lows.