Stocks gained ground to start the new week, buoyed by hopes the Federal Reserve will start cutting interest rates at its September meeting. The main indexes also got a boost after Fed Chief Jerome Powell struck a dovish tone toward inflation.
Last week's encouraging inflation updates – most notably, the June Consumer Price Index (CPI), which fell for the first time on a monthly basis in nearly two years – helped lift expectations that the Fed will cut rates sooner rather than later.
