The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 hit record highs on Monday, while the Dow scaled a more than one-month high as investors awaited a key inflation report, Congressional testimony from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and the start of earnings season this week.
Expectations for interest-rate cuts as early as September received a boost after Friday’s nonfarm payrolls report showed U.S. job growth slowed in June, the latest data to point to weakness in labor market conditions.
Investors, however, will seek a clearer picture of the Fed’s likely monetary policy trajectory for the rest of the year.
Traders now see a 74% chance of a 25-basis-point cut in September, up from last week’s 60%, while expecting an overall reduction of about 50 bps for the year, according to CME’s FedWatch and LSEG data.