U.S. Stocks Set For Another Positive Close; Dow, S&P Hit Fresh Record Highs

(RTTNews) - U.S. stocks are up in positive territory Monday afternoon thanks to sustained buying at several counters, and look set to end the day's session on a firm note.

The assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump's life on Saturday has increased the chances of his victory in the upcoming presidential election in November.

Investors are also reacting positively to Fed Chair Jerome Powell's comments that the central bank will not wait until inflation hits 2 percent to cut interest rates.

Among the major averages, the Dow and the S&P 500 hit fresh record highs today. The Dow, which surged to 40,351.10, was up 248.77 points or 0.62 percent at 40,249.67 a little while ago.

The S&P 500 climbed to 5,666.94 before easing to 5,639.44, but still remained positive, gaining 24.07 points or about 0.43 percent. The Nasdaq was up 77.90 or 0.43 percent at 18,476.34.

Apple Inc., Berkshire Hathway, Tesla, JP Morgan Chase, Walmart, Visa, Exxon Mobil Corporation, UnitedHealth Group, Costco, Bank of America, Chevron Corporation, Netflix, Accenture, American Express, Morgan Stanley, Caterpillar, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Automatic Data Processing are gaining 1 to 4 percent.

Trump Media & Technology shares zoomed nearly 35 percent amid huge volumes, following Trump's fortunate escape from the assassination attempt in Pennsylvania on Saturday.

Nvidia Corporation, Amazon, Oracle Corporation, Verizon Communication, Micron Technology, Boeing and Dell Technologies are notably lower.

On the economic front, a report released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York showed regional manufacturing activity contracted at a slightly faster rate in the month of July.

The New York Fed said its general business conditions index edged down to a negative 6.6 in July from a negative 6.0 in June, with a negative reading indicating contraction. Economists had expected the index to come in unchanged.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell, who spoke at the Economic Club of Washington D.C. today, said that the central bank will not wait until inflation hits 2% to cut interest rates.

Powell referenced the idea that central bank policy works with "long and variable lags" to explain why the Fed wouldn't wait for its target to be hit.

"The implication of that is that if you wait until inflation gets all the way down to 2%, you've probably waited too long, because the tightening that you're doing, or the level of tightness that you have, is still having effects which will probably drive inflation below 2%," Powell said.

In overseas trading, Asian stocks ended mixed on Monday as Chinese GDP data disappointed and the dollar firmed up on bets that Donald Trump will win the upcoming presidential election after an assassination attempt on Saturday.

The major European markets closed lower, weighed down by some disappointing economic data from China, and none too encouraging corporate earnings updates.