Stock market today: Wall Street rises to reverse some of last week’s losses

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are ticking higher Monday as Wall Street recovers some of its losses from last week.

The S&P 500 was 0.4% higher in early trading, coming off its first losing week in the last three. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 151 points, or 0.4%, at 34,728, as of 9:45 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.5% higher.

Like last week, some big technology-oriented stocks were leading the way. Tesla jumped 6.2%, and Meta Platforms rose 2%.

Tech stocks led the market lower last week as yields climbed in the bond market. Higher yields hurt all kinds of stocks, but high-growth stocks are among those that usually get hit the hardest. Yields rose last week after reports showed the U.S. economy remains more resilient than expected, which could be adding more fuel to pressures keeping inflation high.

This upcoming week will offer a huge data point for the Federal Reserve, which is weighing whether to keep raising rates in its effort to get inflation back to 2%. On Wednesday, the U.S. government will offer the latest monthly update on prices consumers are paying across the economy, and the forecast is they were 3.6% higher in August than a year earlier.

The Fed has already hiked its main interest rate to the highest level in two decades, and it has said it will make upcoming moves based on how inflation and other parts of the economy perform. Inflation has come down from last year’s peak above 9%, but economists warn the last bit of improvement to get to the Fed’s target could be the most difficult to achieve.

With Fed officials no longer giving speeches ahead of their meeting next week on interest rates, “the data will do all of the talking this week,” economists at Deutsche Bank said in a report.

They say a report on Thursday about inflation at the wholesale level will be nearly as important as the data on inflation at the consumer level. High growth for wages in the health care industry could be pushing upward on inflation there, they say.

A separate report on Thursday will also show how much U.S. households spent at retailers last month. Strong spending there recently has helped the economy to avoid a long-predicted recession. But it also could be adding upward pressure on inflation by encouraging companies to keep trying to raise prices further.

Yields were holding relatively steady on Monday, with the 10-year Treasury yield up to 4.28% from 4.26% late Friday. The two-year Treasury yield, which moves more closely with expectations for the Fed, dipped to 4.98% from 4.99%.

On Wall Street, Apple swung from an early gain of more than 1% to a loss of 0.3% ahead of a Tuesday event where it’s expected to release its latest iPhone model.

Qualcomm rose 3.8% after it announced a deal to supply 5G equipment for Apple in its phone launches in 2024 through 2026.

Aerospace company RTX slumped 6.5% after it said a previously announced issue with its Pratt & Whitney engines could mean a hit of $3 billion to $3.5 billion hit over the next several years to its operating profit before taxes. It said it will remove up to 700 engines for shop visits in the next few years.

Hostess Brands jumped 18.9% after J.M. Smucker said it will buy the maker of Twinkies and HoHos in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $5.6 billion, including $900 million of net debt. J.M. Smucker, whose brands run from Folgers to Smucker’s, slumped 7.4%.

In stock markets abroad, Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.4% after Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda reportedly hinted at possibly allowing interest rates to rise.

Stock indexes were mixed across the rest of Asia and modestly higher in Europe.

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AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.