New York – Wall Street rebounded Monday as energy prices fell on signs that Tropical Storm Ernesto wouldn’t hit the Gulf of Mexico and as investors grew optimistic about a series of major economic reports on tap this week.
Retail and transportation stocks rose as investors believed lower oil prices would help consumer spending. The drop in energy prices also massaged concerns that this week’s data on consumer confidence, job growth and manufacturing might show the economy is slowing faster than expected.
The market’s advance came amid light summer volume, which is expected to remain thin until after Labor Day. Investors did get a handful of company announcements Monday, including Google Inc. and auction website eBay Inc. forming an advertising alliance.
Meanwhile, Kinder Morgan Inc.’s board agreed to take the natural-gas pipeline operator private, and Western Refining Inc. said it was acquiring Giant Industries Inc.
“The message of this week is ‘if a tree falls in the forest, and there’s nobody there, will it make noise?”‘ said Larry Peruzzi, a trader with Mellon Financial’s Boston Co. Asset Management. “The market is just looking to head up, not get taken down, and sets up the table for September.”
The Standard & Poor’s 500 added 6.69, or 0.52 percent, to 1,301.78 – near a three-month high. Powering the index were Altria Group Inc. and PepsiCo Inc., which touched on historic highs, and Coca-Cola Co. coming within pennies of a 52-week high.
Other major stock indicators also advanced. The Dow jumped 67.96, or 0.60 percent, to 11,352.01, recovering somewhat from last week’s loss of 0.86 percent. The Nasdaq composite index, also near a three-month high, picked up 20.41, or 0.95 percent, to 2,160.70.
Bonds were mostly flat.
