US STOCKS-Wall Street indexes end higher ahead of Fed meeting; Tesla and Alphabet rally

The three major U.S. stock indexes closed higher on Monday with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq notching intraday record high closes, as investors await the Federal Reserve's crucial policy meeting later this week. Tesla shares climbed 3.6% after regulatory filings revealed CEO Elon Musk had acquired nearly $1 billion worth of the electric vehicle maker's stock on Friday. And Google parent Alphabet hit a record high and raced past $3 trillion in market capitalization.

The Federal Open Market Committee meeting on September 16 and 17 looms large over sentiment this week with market participants widely expecting a 25-basis-point reduction following recent economic data signaling labor market weakness. "The market is counting on sort of a goldilocks scenario where the employment market is just weak enough to prompt the Federal Reserve to start a rate cutting series, not just one, without disrupting overall growth," said Carol Schleif, Chief Investment Officer at BMO Family Office. "I think the markets will be disappointed if the Fed doesn't give some hint that they intend to continue rate cuts."

Traders on Monday are pricing in a 96% chance of a 25-basis-point cut at this week's meeting. Tesla's gains boosted the S&P 500 consumer discretionary sector 1.1% to its highest level in nearly nine months. Meanwhile, Alphabet helped lift the communication services sector up 2.33%.

Nvidia slipped 0.04% after China's market regulator said it will continue an investigation into the AI chip leader after preliminary findings showed it had violated the country's anti-monopoly law. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 49.23 points, or 0.11%, to 45,883.45, the S&P 500 gained 30.99 points, or 0.47%, to 6,615.28 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 207.65 points, or 0.94%, to 22,348.75.

Wall Street's three main indexes had logged weekly gains in the previous session, with the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 hitting intraday record highs on Friday as technology-linked stocks remained resilient. Declines in McDonald's and Procter & Gamble Co weighed on the Dow. CoreWeave jumped 7.6% after the data center operator signed a deal with Nvidia that guarantees that the chipmaker will purchase any residual cloud capacity not sold to customers. The deal's initial value is $6.3 billion. Kerrisdale Capital disclosed a short position on CoreWeave.

On the Nasdaq, advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.2-to-1 ratio. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.67-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. The S&P 500 posted 23 new 52-week highs and 11 new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 117 new highs and 66 new lows. Volume on U.S. exchanges was 17.68 billion shares, compared with the 16.2 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.

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