Apple, Tesla lift U.S. stocks to higher close

STORY: Wall Street's main indexes ended higher on Monday, with the Nasdaq notching the biggest gains thanks to megacap tech stocks.

The Dow ticked up into the green, the S&P 500 added about a quarter of percent, and the Nasdaq climbed more than eight-tenths of a percent.

Data from the Institute for Supply Management showed manufacturing contracted for a third straight month in June, while prices paid by manufacturers dropped to a six-month low.

Both are encouraging signs for the Federal Reserve's battle against inflation.

Also scheduled for this week are JOLTS job openings data on Tuesday, and the non-farm payrolls report on Friday.

Traders have stuck to their bets of around two interest rate cuts from the Fed this year, according to LSEG's FedWatch.

But Matt Stucky, chief portfolio manager for equities at Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management, said he's less optimistic.

"We think at this point in the economic cycle, inflation is somewhat sticky, demonstrated by still an elevated wage environment that's not consistent with the Fed's 2 percent inflation goal. Wages need to be somewhere between 3 and 3 1/2 percent. The latest update that we've seen for the month of May with the payroll report was that wages are about 4.2% up year-on-year."

Stocks on the move included Apple, which rose nearly 3%, while Amazon and Microsoft both added more than 2%.

Shares of Tesla surged 6% ahead of second-quarter vehicle delivery data.

JPMorgan Chase shares gained more than 1.5% to hit an all-time high after the biggest U.S. bank on Friday hiked its dividend and the board authorized $30 billion in share buybacks.

And shares of Chewy dropped more than 6.5%, reversing sharp early gains, after stock influencer Keith Gill, also known as "Roaring Kitty," disclosed a 6.6% stake in the pet products retailer.